Aston Villa kick-off a crucial festive triple-header
You wait half a season for a relegation six-pointer then, like buses, three come along at once.
Sat above the drop zone courtesy of goal difference only, Villa go into a run of three games come against the trio of sides currently below them in the table; Southampton, Norwich (h) and Watford (a).
By the time Villa travel to Burnley on New Year’s Day, they will be past the midway point of the Premier League season and will know if they are starting to look up rather than down for the remainder of their first season back in the top flight.
Form-wise, none of the bottom four look likely to pull away from the danger zone anytime soon, but Saints’ back-to-back wins recently over Norwich and Watford at least offered some upward movement going into the festive fixtures, albeit being slowed by two successive defeats since.
For Villa, the next three games offer some light at the end of the tunnel after a tough run of matches which has seen them take on six of the current top eight sides.
That run produced only a solitary point – at Old Trafford – and alarm bells have been ringing in the last two defeats to Leicester and Sheffield United.
The big question for Villa boss Dean Smith comes up front – does he stick with Wesley or pull the big Brazilian out of the firing line in favour of Jonathan Kodjia?
Kodjia did his chances no harm at all in the 5-0 hammering of Liverpool’s youngsters in the Carabao Cup. Scoring twice (he tried to claim a deflection from Conor Hourihane’s free-kick for a hat-trick) he also added a cutting edge to Villa’s forward play that has been missing of late.
That said, Smith will be aware the inexperience of the opposition played a part in those goals.
He will also be mindful that late substitute Wesley also notched with pretty much the last kick of the game – and that could be enough to keep his place in the side.
Speaking after the cup win, Smith said: “The idea was to get Wes on and he scored a really good goal, which was pleasing.
“Most of my press conferences I end up talking about him, but he is a 23-year-old player who has come to a foreign country in one of the toughest leagues in the world and he has scored four goals in 17 games.
“I think some of the criticism can be a little bit too harsh at times.
“You can see the reaction of the players when he scored what they think of him as well.
“I believe he has an unbelievable attitude, a great honesty and a great work ethic. Those three things, along with his potential, he could be really good for us.
“We have to be patient. He will get better and better.”
The boss is also looking for his side to ‘get the fans out of their seats’ after succumbing to Sheffield United last weekend.
He added: “We came out of the game last Saturday and were disappointed with the manner of the defeat.
“We never went toe-to-toe with them in the second half, which is what I want. We are going into some big games now at Villa Park. We have started off with a win on Tuesday and let’s hope we can get the fans out of their seats on Saturday against Southampton.”
