Bristol City take on Aston Villa in the Championship this evening.
Bristol City manager Lee Johnson
Bristol City boss Lee Johnson has been quoted by the Birmingham Mail as saying that Aston Villa are the ‘Galacticos’ of the Championship given their transfer outlay.
The Robins travel to Villa Park this evening to take on Aston Villa, and will be desperately hoping to pick up points in their battle against relegation.
With ten defeats in the last 14 Championship games, Bristol City now lie just two points clear of the relegation zone, and endured another tough afternoon on Saturday.
Just weeks after throwing away a 3-0 lead at Derby County to draw 3-3, the Robins were at it again as they took on Newcastle on Saturday, leading 2-0 before drawing 2-2 in another defensive capitulation.
The threat of relegation is hanging over the Robins, and with manager Johnson under pressure, he needs a result against a Villa side who won for the first time in 2017 with a 1-0 victory over Derby County on Saturday.
The game not only sees two under-pressure managers go head to head in Johnson and Steve Bruce, but also sees Villa striker Jonathan Kodjia face his former club having made a big-money move to Villa Park last summer.
The Guardian claim that the deal was £11million up front possibly rising to £15million, with the Ivorian just one of a number of huge signings Villa have made since relegation from the Premier League.
Aston Villa’s Jonathan Kodjia celebrates
The likes of Ross McCormack, Scott Hogan, James Chester, Aaron Tshibola, Pierluigi Gollini, Mile Jedinak, Tommy Elphick and Henri Lansbury have all arrived – with varying levels of success – and Transfermarkt set Villa’s up front spend this season at a whopping £63million, before even taking add-ons into account.
Ahead of tonight’s game, Bristol City boss Johnson – as quoted by the Birmingham Mail – has compared Villa to Real Madrid’s famed ‘Galacticos’ era, where they spent huge amounts of money on players, far beyond anybody else in the division.
“The attitude and energy pleased me most on Saturday and we’ll need the same again at Aston Villa,” said Johnson. “With the money [Villa have] spent, it’s a bit like the Galacticos of the Championship,” he added.
What have you made of Villa’s spending this season?
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