Lee Hendrie: Villa Park must be a fortress if Aston Villa are to stay up

Former midfielder Lee Hendrie can't hide his concern for his beloved old club as the Boxing Day visit of Crystal Palace sees Villa tackle a team which spent the first third of the season written off as relegation certainties.

But the appointment of arch-pragmatist Tony Pulis as the Eagles' new manager has given flight to last season's Championship play- off winners threatening to dodge an immediate return to the second tier – and a sobering 3-0 home defeat against in-form Newcastle has failed to dent the visitors' renewed optimism.

And why wouldn't Palace fancy their chances on Thursday? Watching their claret and blues at home has become a chore for Villa fans coming to terms with the injury-affected slump in form of Christian Benteke this season.

Six goals in their seven home League games – three of them coming in the extraordinary victory over Manchester City – establish Villa as the lowest scorers in front of their own fans through all four divisions.

It's left Hendrie aching for the days when a trip to Villa Park established a very different mind-set within the opposition camp.

"Teams used to fear coming to Villa Park but now I don't see that being the case," says Hendrie.

"No disrespect to the likes of Palace and teams who have come up from the Championship, but they are half-thinking they are going to come up and get a result.

"That is quite scary really because being in the situation we're in – that's where we need to be winning games to definitely keep our place in the Premier League. Last season we didn't do that enough and we ended up being in a dogfight at the end.

"We used to take the game to teams but it doesn't seem to be the case at the moment, it's more of a counter-attacking side. In this day and age I don't think you can do that.

"We'd be a lot better off if we took the game to teams we're playing at Villa Park but it doesn't seem to be the way. That's where we're struggling. We're not sitting on the fence as such but we're scared to take the game to teams – especially the games where you're expecting to win.

"The counter-attacking style with the young lads he's got is working but at home when you have 35,000 Villa fans there, they are going to get frustrated.

"Before you know it the fans start turning on you. You know confidence at home is a lot worse than it could be and it's started to show as the season has gone on."

And Hendrie, himself once a target of the boo-boys during an eventful Villa career which took in more than 250 appearances, knows all about the impact a grumbling home public can have on the players.

"There's no player who won't be affected," he adds. "If he puts a pass wrong the fans are going to get at them."