The Villa Fiver: Are Aston Villa Results Getting Worse Than Last Season? – After 20 Games

 Aston Villa Result Analysis 2013/14

While Aston Villa supporter disgruntlement with Paul Lambert has steadily grown in the past few months, in terms of corresponding results from last season, there had been a slight improvement on results. However, after the last five games, Lambert has slipped into a precarious position, as we’ll see below. The next five games could statistically show that Lambert’s team is in decline from even last season. The scary thing  is, there is no such thing as a winnable game for Villa anymore, as we’ve seen, that even includes cup games against Lower League teams.

Let’s look at how we fared over the past five games in relation to last season.

Aston Villa results from games sixteen to twenty

[Brackets donate last season]

Manchester United (h) L 3-0 (L 3-2)

Stoke City (a) L 2-1 (W 3-1)

Crystal Palace (h) L 1-0 (L 3-0 – comparing CP to Wigan)

Swansea (h) D 1-1 (W 2-0)

Sunderland (a) W 1-0 (W 1-0)

Points difference compared to fixtures last season: – 5

 Goals scored – 3 (8)

 Goals conceded 7 (7)

After 20 corresponding games total

Points difference compared to the same fixtures last season: + 1

 Goals scored – 19 (27)

 Goals conceded – 25 (42)

League Position after 20 games:

This season: 11^th on 23 pts

Last season: 17^th on 18 pts

While things haven’t exactly got as bad as they were in the first Christmas period under Paul Lambert, there have been several reasons for fan frustration this time around. We lost heavily to a Manchester United side on a bad run of form and also lost to Stoke and Crystal Palace, two games we should have at least got some points from. The worst thing about a point from the Swansea game was that we were fortunate to get that – Swansea casually passed the ball around and outplayed Villa, the home team.

That Villa are 11^th in the table might be flattering, while we are five points better off than at the same stage last season, when you compare  corresponding fixtures from last season, Villa are only one point up. This is very worrying as we head into the ominous run of fixtures, especially after disappointing in our supposedly ‘easy’ last five games. There may be trouble ahead

With injuries continuing to cause concern for Lambert,  January’s buys need to come in sooner rather than later.

Here are the next five games:

Arsenal (h) (D 0-0)

 Liverpool (a) (W 3-1)

 West Brom (h) (D 1-1)

 Everton (a) (D 3-3)

 West Ham (h) (W 2-1)

Surprisingly, last season in the equivalent matches, Villa were unbeaten, racking up nine points in total. It’s unlikely Villa will match that, this time around.  Two tough away days on Merseyside look intimidating, even given our generally improved away form, and home games, where we struggle, are a concern – a loss to West Brom at home could prove particularly damaging for the club and staff, if Villa don’t pick up any points against Arsenal and Liverpool beforehand.

Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton are very much three of the best teams in the league at the moment, so some fans will seek comfort from the fact, that we’ve got more points already than we had even after 25 games last season, but there’s a real risk of us drifting further away from points improvement and remaining around a similar amount. It will be a surprise if we are still 11^th in the table after these five games.

Still, as underdogs, Villa have often perform well against the top-form sides this season, and with January a chance to bolster the squad (please?!), we might be able to pick up a few decent points and continue the campaign where we left off against Sunderland. UTV

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Follow Lewis on Twitter –@rymondfootball