A draw should see Villa safe from relegation, so there is no need for a false gloss to be applied to their season.
They say you cannot put lipstick on a pig, but that is exactly what is at risk of happening if Villa win their home clash tonight.
Win, and Villa will guarantee their survival, and there is every risk fans will be subjected to talk of how Alex McLeish has been ‘unlucky’ during his first season in charge.
Late this season there has admittedly been misfortune with an injury up front to Darren Bent, but this is a problem of McLeish’s own making in failing to buy a proven second striker.
A draw would sum up Villa’s depressing season, creaking towards the end, with even Gabby Agbonlahor admitting weeks ago he could not wait until the summer.
Over the past month the club have been at real risk of relegation, but have edged closer to survival via dull home draws with Sunderland and Stoke- two sides who are poor on the road.
There was the creditable draw at Anfield, but that said more about Liverpool’s league season of desperation than Villa itself, as Roy Hodgson’s West Brom side showed this weekend.
A draw against relegation strugglers Bolton tonight, will keep the gap between the two sides to six points, and take Villa six points clear of the relegation zone with three games to go.
That should be enough to see them safe, both Bolton and Blackburn are unlikely to overhaul them, especially with Rovers facing Chelsea and Spurs in their final three games.
A draw would mean just one home win for Villa since November.
Only if Bolton win will Villa really be sucked into the survival battle, which obviously the club will want to avoid.
Fans are staying away in their thousands, fed up with McLeish’s dull football, and limp performances away from home against the top teams, visits to the Emirates and White Hart Lane embarrassing cases in point.
Which is why the best thing for Villa is surely to move McLeish on in the summer and bring in a fresh face.
Randy Lerner is showing no signs of listening to the fans, and aside from relegation, supporters should hope the team only scrape survival- which they are looking like doing, in an effort to make their owner sit up and notice.
Which is why they should not hope for the false promise of a win tonight, just a draw, which may be the best long-term option in defining their pig of a season.
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image: © ell brown
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