Villa are in trouble of being dragged into the relegation dog fight?

In 2009 Aston Villa beat Chelsea 2-1 under Martin O'Neill and despite never really being in contention to qualify for the Champions League that season, the previous two seasons they were genuinely close to finishing fourth in the Barclays Premier League.

The team they fielded that day was as follows: Brad Friedel, Carlos Cuellar, Richard Dunne, James Collins, Stephen Warnock, James Milner, Steve Sidwell, Stiliyan Petrov, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor, John Carew.



Fast forward to Saturdays Aston Villa side that, all be it bravely, lost to Chelsea: Shay Given, Eric Lichaj, James Collins, Nathan Baker, Stephen Warnock, Gary Gardner, Chris Herd, Barry Bannan, Stephen Ireland, Andres Weimann, Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Not only has the side changed completely, its changed for the worse. The former European Cup winners have gone from top four contenders to relegation candidates.

Less then three years apart are these matches, and only three of the Aston Villa side that beat Chelsea, the champions of the league that season, played on Saturday. Them three (Collins, Warnock and Agbonlahor) are all out of form and nowhere near as good as they were three years ago.

Looking at the Villa side that lost on Saturday there are no leaders. Local boy Agbonlahor captained the side. He is not a leader.

Despite captaining the side on the weekend, Agbonlahor's form has been poor since the turn of the year

I appreciate Villa have lots of injuries; however the side that lost on the weekend is poor (Barry Bannan, Stephen Ireland and Shay Given aside)

It's fair to say McLeish wasn't the fans number one choice to replace the retiring Gerard Houllier. And despite a decent start to the season, they've won just seven league games this season, collecting just 16 points at Villa Park.



If things wasn't bad enough for Villa, their football this season has been dire. Though Roberto Martinez rejected Aston Villa, if the club really wanted him, they could have got him. There was the chance to bring in a young manager who could be at the club for years and genuinely approach the game in the right manor. However Villa took the easy option and appoint someone who has been there and done it, despite just an OK track record in England.

In December of this season Villa went to Stamford Bridge and played them off the pitch in a 3-1 win. The next game they lost 2-0 at home to Swansea. What is the point of winning at Stamford Bridge if you can't win at home against of QPR, Swansea, Wolves and West Brom? Their inconsistency is there for all to see, something even mirrored in the managers past who won the Carling Cup with Birmingham last year; however they ended up being relegated to the Championship.

Currently Aston Villa sit three places above the drop zone; however the difference between them and QPR is just three points. The club are in trouble make no mistake about it, and I can't see them getting ANY points from their next three matches (Liverpool away, Stoke home, Manchester United away).

Villa's remaining fixtures (predictions in brackets)

Liverpool away (loss)

Stoke home (loss)

Manchester United away (loss)

Sunderland home (draw)

Bolton home (win)

West Brom away (loss)

Tottenham home (loss)

Norwich away (draw)

The bottom five sides (with the exemption of Wolves) are in decent form, Aston Villa are not and the Midlands club are worryingly looking over their shoulders. With just 10 points from their last 10 games (most of them favourable fixtures), Villa are in poor form and despite me writing a piece about last week about the bottom five, for me now its a bottom six.

I think the five points I've predicted them to get from their remaining fixtures will be enough to keep Villa in the league; however the club should never have been dragged into the dog fight to remain in the Barclays Premier League. I feel the club at the end of the season should relieve their manager of his duties and attempt to bring in either Brendan Rodgers, Owen Coyle or Paul Lambert.

Why Alex Mcleish will bring success to Villa.

Despite not being the most popular appointment of the season, Alex Mcleish will do a good job with Villa.

Under Houllier Aston Villa's main problem was keeping clean sheets, partly due to the Frenchmans fall out with key defender Richard Dunne, however Mcleish's teams have always been defensively good and the Scott has a great eye for a good defender, capturing the likes of Roger Johnson and Scott Dann, with the laters injury a key reason in why Birmingham were relegated.

Birmingham City only registered 75 goals in their last two Premiership seasons, less then a goal per game mainly down to the fact Mcleish never had a goalscorer in the team. Cameron Jerome was their top scorer in their impressive first season back in the Premiership, however in their second season most of their goals came from midfield with Craig Gardner leading the way with just eight. Yet when Mcleish starts his reign with Aston Villa, he knows he has a centre forward at the club who guarentees goals in Darren Bent meaning the Scott can spend the money from the Ashley Young sale for defensive additions, where his knowledge is broader.

With their lack of goals came a lack of fluid attacking play, earning Mcleish a reputation of playing dull football. Despite the creative likes of Stewart Downing, Stephen Ireland and the aformentioned Bent, Mcleish isn't expected to change his mentalitity. The question is will the fans adapt to a more win at all costs style of football which may not be pretty to watch.

After a Carling Cup success with Birmingham City last year Mcleish has proven he has what it takes to win silverwear, something Villa haven't achieved since the 1994 League cup success over Manchester United, a stat Villa will be desperately hoping to bring an end to after being put in the shade by their rivals cup success.

An added bonus for Villa this year is the lack of European competition. With the likes of Fulham and Stoke, two sides who finished in and around the midlands club last year, the heavy fixture list will have an affect on their relatively small squads. Whereas Aston Villa don't have to play every Thursday and Sunday meaning their squad will be fresher then most.

Despite two relegations with Birmingham, the Scotts CV reads well, with success at all three Scottish clubs he managed, notably at Rangers where he ended the Celtic dominance under Martin O'Neil, ironically the man who took Aston Villa from the obscurity of the lower regions of the Premiership to the verge of Champions League football. After narrowly missing out on Euro 2008 with the Scottish national side, Mcleish joined Birmingham where the Scott endured a rollercoaster of a ride culminating in two relegations, a highest league finish in 30 years, a promotion as well as their Carling cup truimph.

The last year for Aston Villa has been very chaotic, with five different men at the reign, and with Mcleish comes stability and given money and reassurances that the likes of Downing won't follow Young out the door, it could be a very good season for the Villa. The appointment may neither have been the boards or the fans first choice, yet it could turn out to be an inspired one.

A man under instant pressure to succeed