A draw with Blackburn Rovers eases any immediate fears over relegation, but what does the future hold the for club?
We described Aston Villa’s trip to Ewood Park as vital for both clubs, but the draw was less damaging for Villa.
For Blackburn it was a chance to elevate themselves above their rivals in the scrap for survival, while for Villa a loss could have meant being sucked into the battle.
As it stands after a 1-1 draw which was initially deflating for Villa fans after leading for much of the game, they now sit in a relatively comfortable position.
In 15th, they are eight points above QPR, Blackburn and Wolves, who each sit on 22 points.
The club will still need to accrue around 10 points, but if they can’t do that from 11 remaining games, they will likely deserve to go down.
A real positive from the performance was a goal from Charles N’Zogbia, who could have added a second, who really needs to step up and deliver given that top scorer Darren Bent is out injured.
N’Zogbia has been one of the disappointments of the season, but there is still time for him to prove his worth, and this was a step in the right direction.
However a failure to win was disappointing for Villa fans, who have only seen six league wins all season.
The club have drawn more games than anyone else in the Premier League this season, four coming at home and eight away.
Alex McLeish’s Birmingham side was set up to be hard to beat, and if half of those draws had been losses, they really would find themselves in a relegation scrap.
But Villa will want more than that, and as uninspiring as it sounds, like Gabby Agbonlahor said, it is simply a case of getting to the end of the season and rebuilding.
No Villa fan will have enjoyed this season, and Saturday’s game summed up the whole campaign.
It was not pretty- but it might just have been enough.
Improvement will be demanded next year. A new manager? Who knows.
image: © ell brown
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