Lets face it, Villa were lucky to escape with a draw at the weekend, against a Millwall team that hadn’t registered a single away win this season and were a Division One team last.
One shot on target (a token gesture attempt from sub Jack Grealish) wasn’t exactly what most Villa supporters had in mind going into what on paper was the easier of the six December fixtures.
Still, here’s five reasons to be cheerful as Villa fans this week…
Recoveries
Before the Millwall game, Villa supporters got the surprisely good news that several Villa players were on the mend quicker than first expected. Scott Hogan took his place on the bench and would have come on, if it wasn’t for Chris Samba picking up an injury, shortly before the striker was due to come on.
It was also announced that Mile Jedinak wouldn’t have to have an operation and had returned to full training too.
And then there was the captain…
JT 2017
It’s been good to see John Terry enthusiastically trying to get back to fitness before the end of the year.
Ever wonder what makes a great player? @AVFCOfficial #mindset pic.twitter.com/XgnF2iPKGu
— Dan Donachie (@donachie_dan) December 9, 2017
Whether this can be construed as a social media stunt or not, there’s something nice and old school about running up and down the steps of the Holte rather than just doing gym rehabilitation. It makes it feel a bit more ‘Rocky’!
Terry is obviously keen to play again in 2017 and hopefully he’ll make it.
Wolves Chase
The dropped points was a missed opportunity for Villa to close ground on Wolves, but at the same time, more importantly we didn’t lose any ground on Wolves, who drew 0-0 at home to a 10-men Sunderland.
If Villa are to haul back the Dog Heads, then they need to win some key away games. A win at Derby would be a great start.
10’s
While Villa would have liked more than 10 wins in 21 games to boost their claim to promotion, it could be worse.
10 wins isn’t bad when you compare it to the fact that the Blues have only actually managed 10 goals, so far this season. 10 wins for them in the whole season, maybe a bit of a pipe dream.
If the Blues can’t find the net more regularly soon, then relegation surely beckons for them.
Unbeaten
You wouldn’t have been surprised if Villa had lost both the last two fixtures. Woeful for the first hour against Leeds and then for most of the game against Millwall.
Escaping with draws in both games though means Villa are unbeaten in five.
The players hopefully can use this as the foundations to propel a longer unbeaten run and better performances in the December tests ahead and beyond.
UTV
Catch up with the latest MOMS podcast episode, before the new one drops soon:
I think we are a bit of a shambles at the moment scraping a couple of draws we need more and in honesty I don’t fancy our chances this weekend, I think the Grabbon idea is good but all we seem to do is talk about it whilst Wolves go straight in for a deal. We are definitely struggling and Davis whilst doing what he can leading the line needs to start scoring, what’s Bruce got against O’Hare I reckon he’s ready and every bit as good as Onomah. Get him in now.