Miserable McLeish drags desperate Villa closer to the drop

Alex McLeish felt the full force of the Villa faithful last night as his side slumped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Bolton that sees them cut to 9/2 to be relegated this season.

A crazy spell saw the home side take the lead only to throw it away in less than three minutes, leaving them just three points from the trapdoor.

The former Birmingham manager came with a reputation for dour football and so far he has lived up to his billing, with his side winning only seven games in the league, only local rivals and Championship bound Wolves have won fewer.

In the history of the Premier League only one team has ever won seven games or less and survived, and that was West Brom who did so on the last day of the season, with only 34 points, a points total Villa have already surpassed and looks destined to not be enough to achieve survival this time.

One of the main reasons for the Villans current predicament is the amount of stalemates they have played a part in throughout the campaign, they have drawn 15 encounters this term, four more than any other side in the Premier League.

Much can be put down to the loss of star striker Darren Bent, who remains the club’s top scorer with nine goals, despite only making 21 league appearances throughout this season.

Only Stoke, Wolves and Wigan have hit the back of the net fewer times than McLeish’s men.

The Midlands club face one of their biggest fixtures in years when they take on West Brom at the Hawthorns this weekend, and they are 2/1 to get a victory, anything but a win will leave them staring relegation bluntly in the face, with a home tie against Spurs and a trip to Norwich to follow.

The American owner has given his man a vote of confidence but the reaction of the Villa supporters after the Bolton match would appear to have condemned the Scot no matter what the next three games brings.