Aston Villa miles better with Mile Jedinak

Steve Bruce has made no secret of his belief the return of Mile Jedinak has been a key factor in Villa’s recent revival.

But you don’t merely have to take the manager’s word for it, as the statistics more than back up such a claim.

A quick run through the numbers makes clear just how integral the 32-year-old midfielder has been to any success Villa have experienced this season.

Jedinak has started all but one of the club’s 11 league victories, the only exception being the 3-0 victory against Rotherham, which took place before he had completed a £4million move from Crystal Palace.

Of the ten games the Australian international has missed, Villa have drawn four and lost six, including a five-game spell from January to February which ended any hopes of Bruce’s team mounting a play-off challenge.

In a deep-lying role, Jedinak provides an important layer of protection to the back four, as highlighted by perhaps the most remarkable statistic of all when it comes to studying his relationship with centre-back pairing James Chester and Nathan Baker.

When the trio have all started together this term, Villa are yet to lose, winning nine out of 14 league fixtures.

It is a record which is likely to be seriously tested tonight at Huddersfield, as Bruce’s men take on the high-flying Terriers, aiming to extend their current three-game winning run.

Such is the ambition at Villa Park and stature of the club, every game brings with it pressure for Bruce and his players.

It is reasonable to argue, however, that the greater urgency tonight lies with the hosts. David Wagner’s team, by every measure this season’s surprise package, sit third in the table and could climb to within three points of the automatic promotion places with a victory.

For Villa, as Bruce has already pointed out, the challenge will provide a useful measuring stick of their progress following the recent good run.

The manager has admitted the mistake of trying to change too much, too soon after bringing in eight new faces during the January transfer window, though Jedinak is among those who believes there is definite cohesion developing as fortunes begin to turn.

“I think it’s definitely heading in the right direction,” he said. “It definitely looks that way. You can see there’s a discipline about us.

“People are aware of what they’re up to and what they have to do.

“Saturday may have been just another win against a team that people think we should earn a win against but it’s three in a row and we haven’t had a run like that in a very long time.”

Villa lost both Jack Grealish and Birkir Bjarnason in the first-half of Saturday’s win and Bruce’s bench will likely feature at least a couple of players from the under-23s.

Terriers boss Wagner, who returns to the dugout tonight after serving a two-game touchline ban, is assessing the fitness of midfielder Philip Billing and goalkeeper Danny Ward.