Aston Villa are a play-off team under Steve Bruce.
The appointment of Steve Bruce was exactly what Aston Villa needed after a woeful start to the campaign under Roberto di Matteo.
The Italian had looked like proving Ian Holloway’s pre-season prediction correct they would finish 17th.
Aston Villa Manager Steve Bruce
Bruce was appointed by Aston Villa on October 12, and the club have climbed up to 12th in the Championship table.
Villa are in play-off form under Bruce, a notion backed up with a look at how the table looks including matches only from the date of the new manager’s appointment up until now.
| Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | Games played | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | 10 | 3 | 0 | 33 | 13 |
| Newcastle | 10 | 0 | 4 | 30 | 14 |
| Derby | 9 | 3 | 2 | 30 | 14 |
| Leeds | 9 | 2 | 3 | 29 | 14 |
| Reading | 9 | 1 | 3 | 28 | 13 |
| Aston Villa | 7 | 4 | 3 | 25 | 14 |
| Sheff Wed | 7 | 4 | 3 | 25 | 14 |
| Barnsley | 6 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 14 |
| Fulham | 6 | 4 | 3 | 22 | 13 |
| Huddersfield | 6 | 3 | 5 | 21 | 14 |
Villa’s form under Bruce has them as the sixth best team in the division, just five points off an automatic promotion spot.
In reality Villa are seven points outside the play-offs, which they could conceivably haul in, and 17 points away from the top two.
Bruce has not got everything right at Villa, as seen by his persistence with Ashley Westwood and Gabby Agbolahor, but he has steered the club in the right direction and fans should take real encouragement from his opening few months at the club.
New Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce poses after the press conference
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