No team has ever avoided relegation from the Premier League with single figure points at this stage of the season. This is being widely quoted as a reason to conclude that our fate is already sealed. That may well prove to be the case but there was football before season 1991-92!

In season 1990-91 Sheffield United had managed only 4 points and 4 draws by mid-December after their first 17 games in Division 1. They ended the season in 13^th place on 46 points and well clear of the relegation places. So history proves it has and can be done after all. A repeat of that achievement by Villa would be a very nice unexpected Christmas present for us all!      

On 13^th December 1998 we beat Arsenal at Villa Park to go top of the table. We have not beaten them in the league at Villa Park since. Yesterday precisely 17 years later to the day it was Arsenal that beat us to go top of the league themselves.

Arsenal remain undefeated in the league at Villa Park this century and it seems the only way we will avoid their winning run at Villa Park being extended to 18 years is by our being relegated. That is something we sadly look likely to be able to achieve with some games to spare now.

There was no festive cheer to be taken from this game for us and no Christmas gifts of much needed points from our visitors. Teams that are above us seem able to get surprisingly positive results as did Newcastle yesterday and Bournemouth on Saturday. We alone of the bottom dwellers can be relied upon to be consistent to the extent that yesterday’s defeat broke our football club’s all time record run of games without a win. I have had enough of the sort of record breaking we have been doing for far too long now!

Our chances of extending our 29-year stay in the top flight grow less as each game passes us by. We started well enough yesterday but their early converted penalty relieved any pressure there may have been upon them given they were aware that we were likely to pose them little to no threat up front.

Their second goal was the coup de grâce and they were able to run down the clock in the second half without shifting out of second gear. Their win was a very, very comfortable one. We did create a few half chances but we were fortunate that they were happy to come away with a 2-goal winning margin because had they had the will to have gone for victory by a wider margin our goal difference could have looked worse than it already does today.

We now need snookers to stay up. Other teams are getting the sort of unexpectedly positive results they need which seems to be way beyond us. If we are to make some sort of a fight of this then we really need to win a couple of the three games that we have left during what remains of this sorry year.

12 or 13 points at the half-way stage of this season could yet give us some hope of turning things around. To do that we would need to get a minimum of the same points from our next 3 games that we have managed to get from our first 16. It seems highly unlikely at the moment as we stare into the abyss that a team who have difficulty in scoring but concede goals a plenty will get anywhere near the number of points we need from these three games. 

My player ratings from a game that has left us still without a home league win this season, with the worst goal difference in the league, with a measly 6 points from 16 games and with only 3 from our last 15 are:

Brad Guzan – 5 –. Sent the wrong way on the 8^th minute when Giroud hit their first from the penalty spot. Had little else to do during the game but played his team mates into trouble a couple of times when playing the ball out of his area such as when he gave the ball to Lescott on the edge of the box in stoppage time. Brad came out for an Ozil free kick on 20 minutes that he failed to reach but Giroud failed to take advantage and Gestede cleared his header away for a corner. He then pushed an 82^nd minute Oxlade-Chamberlain shot that had taken a touch off Lescott out for a corner.                                                                          

Alan Hutton – 4 – Started the game badly and pulled Walcott back with both arms on his shoulders after he had cut into the box in front of him for their penalty. He improved later but it would have been difficult to have got any worse. Alan also headed a 43^rd minute corner harmlessly wide.                                  

Jores Okore – 6 – MOTM – Looked solid enough on a day when the team did not.      

Joleon Lescott – 5 – Joleon was left with 3 players to mark for their second goal after both Sánchez and Veretout failed to cover runs from Ozil and Giroud. Ozil unselfishly played the ball to Ramsey who was the first of two unmarked players inside the area and the game was over as a contest if in reality it ever was one.                                    

Leandro Bacuna – 5 – Cech parried a Sánchez cross to him on 21 minutes but he sent the ball well over. Unlucky on 62 minutes when Ayew found him wide and in a lot of space to see his measured shot go inches over the bar.                          

Jordan Veretout – 5 – Hit a shot from the edge of the box well over the bar on 48 minutes.

Carlos Sánchez - 4 – His 50^th minute shot was gathered easily enough by Cech.                   

Idrissa Gana – 5 – Hit a shot from the edge of the box wide of the post on 31 minutes. He appeared to have been fouled to everyone other than the referee when he lost possession of the ball near the edge of their box and they went on to add their second.

Scott Sinclair – 5 – Gana found him with a good ball in the 6^th minute but his low shot from the edge of the box went straight into the arms of Cech. Scott headed a cross onto the roof of the net on 58 minutes.   

Jordan Ayew – 5 – Aimed a nice looking ball into the box for Sinclair which he was not quite able to bring under control on 53 minutes.  

Rudy Gestede – 4 – Won some balls in the air but offered little to no threat of scoring himself and was much too static when we had the ball. Failed to get enough on a header from a 49^th minute Hutton cross.           

Substitutes:

Carles Gil   6 - Replaced Gestede on 59 minutes and made a decent impact. Hit a shot just wide of the post on 82 minutes that Cech appeared to have covered.   

Jack Grealish – Replaced Gana on 78 minutes. Did not make any impression on the game so did not merit a rating.     

Adama Traore – Replaced Sinclair on 87 minutes. Not on long enough to gather a rating but he did make a powerful run from inside his own half in the first minute of stoppage time before hitting a shot from inside the area into the side netting. He offers the chance to make something from nothing as this demonstrated. Given we have nothing at the moment we have very little to lose by starting him in our next four games because we really need to get some serious points from them.

Happy Christmas to all readers & stay up Villa!

John Lewis