Sorry Aston Villa following Wigan’s path to the Championship
Published:Aston Villa fans shouldn’t have to look at their league position, for the number next to their name in the Premier League table has been synonymous with their club for the entirety of Paul Lambert’s tenure.
A lead-losing defeat to Tottenham last time out, their sixth loss in a row, leaves the maroon and blue-wearing midlanders in 15th place, the position they’ve finished in the past two seasons under their Scottish leader, and just two points above the dotted line.
Their run of form, albeit accelerated by games against four of last term’s top five, leaves Lambert’s men as 10/3 shots for relegation this season, but is it a price worth snapping up?
Clumped spells of joylessness have been commonplace at Villa Park both under and prior to the former Borussia Dortmund midfielder’s reign, yet somehow the club have steered clear of relegation.
Going back to Alex McLeish’s unpopular season at the helm in 2011/12 (which signalled the end of Villa’s four-year stay in the league’s top half), Villa have gone winless for six games or more in each campaign since.
They failed to win in any of the final 10 games under the former Birmingham boss, endured an eight-game run in Lambert’s debut term and went winless in six towards the back end of last season.
Each time, just like it is now, the drop looked a mere formality, yet on every occasion enough points were cobbled together to survive.
Seemingly relegation-proof, Villa’s run is not too dissimilar to the one-time steely Wigan Athletic.
The men from the DW also endured winless runs of six games or more in three straight seasons, until finally a fourth term enduring a sorry sextuplet secured their demise.
Should history repeat itself, then 10/3 is an awfully long price for a side destined for the drop.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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