Get Kodjia scoring and Villa have perhaps the Championship’s best XI

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Jonathan Kodjia has been in great form for Aston Villa since his return from injury and his goalscoring form could be key to success.

Steve Bruce, manager of Aston Villa.

Talk of a so-called crisis at Aston Villa has all but vanished with back-to-back victories in the Championship moving them up to ninth in the table.

The Villans are now unbeaten in six league matches and are just two points off the playoffs, with speculation regarding Steve Bruce’s future as manager seeming to have died down as a result.

Conor Hourihane of Aston Villa salutes the travelling fans.

Their latest victory, 2-1 at home to Nottingham Forest, saw Jonathan Kodjia play a superb pass to set up Albert Adomah’s opener before a driving run and foul on the striker gave Conor Hourihane the opportunity to score the winner from the subsequent free-kick.

Kodjia has now played three games since returning to the first team after recovering from a broken ankle and despite not scoring himself, the 27-year-old’s impact has been instant. In the two fixtures the Ivory Coast international has started for Villa they have scored five goals, having managed seven in their previous seven up until that point.

Once Kodjia – who top-scored for the club in his first season at Villa Park in 2016/17 with 19 strikes – has rediscovered his own touch in the box, it could be legitimately argued that Bruce has the finest team in the English second tier.

Jonathan Kodjia of Aston Villa in action during the Sky Bet Championship match against Middlesbrough.

Captain John Terry appears to have now found his feet following a summer move from Chelsea, marshalling the defence to three clean-sheets and just one goal conceded in the last four league outings.

The aforementioned Hourihane is the club’s topscorer with five goals from midfield, while Adomah has three himself and Bruce can look to strength in depth throughout the backline and in the middle.

It was upfront where issues were occurring with youngster Keinan Davis being relied upon with Scott Hogan short of form and Ross McCormack out of favour, but with Kodjia back the final piece of the jigsaw appears to have fallen into place.