Aston Villa Fan View: Better teams are finding us out

After a period of only two losses in 18 games, and Villa comfortably moving into the top six, fans knew that the busy December period would be key for Villa’s promotion hopes. So far, after playing Leeds, Millwall and Derby, Steve Bruce’s team have accumulated two points and are now 10 points off automatic promotion, and are close to slipping outside the playoffs.

Some Villa fans state that its OK to be in the playoffs, and go up, but the concern is that Villa don’t get results against the better teams, in fact Villa have played four out of the top six and just got one point. This is a huge worry, and teams can just about get away with it, if you beat all the teams below consistently, but Villa’s draw at home to Millwall last week demonstrates the more macro issues facing Bruce.

The most recent defeat, against Derby County on Saturday, clearly demonstrated the issues that Villa have to solve, which mainly revolve around a lack of plan B!

Villa CEO Keith Wyness stated at he start of the season that Villa will need to score 80 goals in 46 games to go up, so far its 29 from 22. Yes, Villa have injuries to some key places such as John Terry and Jonathan Kodjia, but with the resources Villa have available, there really are no excuses, especially when you compare squads on paper to the likes of Cardiff and Bristol City.

The game against Sheffield United this Saturday evening is fast becoming a must win game. Going 3/4 games and not winning in this league is brutal, and with Cardiff and Wolves not letting up, they could be out of sight by February. Our Christmas fixture list also includes two away games at Brentford (who played us off the park earlier in the season), a Middlesbrough team who’s results haven’t met expectations as well as a Bristol City team that are the surprise package this season.

Out of these four games, Villa will need a minimum of 9/10 points just to keep up with the pace.

And the fact that Villa are playing two of the top six in this time, must be a big red flag to everyone at the club. I do wonder what the Chairman and board are thinking of the current situation, especially as FFP means that Villa will be in serious trouble if they don’t go up at the end of the season. Bruce has earned more time as the team has been on such a good run, but he cannot afford the same spell which happened last year where Villa fell to pieces in January/February and finished 13th.

Aston Villa play Sheffield United this Saturday at 5:30pm, live on Sky Sports.