Day 12: Aston Villa

Everyday, from now until Christmas Eve, we will take a look at a Premier League club and rate their season so far. Today, it is Aston Villa’s turn to be put under the microscope as we continue our Premier League Christmas Countdown.

Aston Villa’s season so far has been very hit or miss. They are currently sixth in the table, but that position is precarious considering 11th placed Newcastle are just two points off them. The aim this season was to once again challenge for Europe, and while they are currently doing that, I think that they will inevitably fall off.

Edging out Wins

Aston Villa’s first three wins in the Premier League this season all came from the odd goal, rather than having clear distance between the two sides. Their campaign started off with a 2-1 win over West Ham, followed by a 2-0 defeat at home to Arsenal. August ended with another 2-1 win, this time over Leicester City.

Jhon Duran replaces Ollie Watkins up top for Aston Villa tonight 👀9️⃣ pic.twitter.com/83ZKGkeZsn

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 14, 2024

September rolled around, and once again, Villa won by a margin of one goal. Everton took a 2-0 lead, but two goals from Ollie Watkins and a Jhon Duran stunner brought Aston Villa their first home win of the season.

Congestion Causing Chaos

Aston Villa’s next game was at home to Wolves, and despite conceding early, they managed to score three second half goals to win 3-1. It was at this point that fixture congestion started to cause performances to slip, as they drew 2-2 with Ipswich following a narrow 2-1 win over Wycombe in the League Cup.

The following match was against Bayern Munich in the Champions League and after that was Manchester United. They drew that game 0-0 and looked quite poor at times, likely due to the fatigue of playing two games most weeks. Thankfully for Villa fans, they had a whole week until their next game and the rest resulted in a 3-1 win over Fulham.

Aston Villa after a Champions League game. pic.twitter.com/6u1l9kops2

— Paddy Power (@paddypower) December 14, 2024

Another midweek game caused chaos towards the end of October. After beating Bologna in the Champions League, the Villains hosted Bournemouth and despite dominating, drew 1-1 thanks to a last minute goal from Bournemouth’s Evanilson.

The Start of a Fall Off

November went much the same way, with defeats to Tottenham and Liverpool in the first two weeks, which flanked a 1-0 defeat to Club Brugge in the Champions League. They made it four Premier League games without a win when they drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace at Villa Park. Ross Barkely came up with the second equaliser after Watkins got the first one in the first half.

On the first day of December, Villa visited Stamford Bridge, and lost 3-0. After the game Unai Emery had to admit that Chelsea were simply better than his side on the day, as they found themselves in a mid table battle.

It felt like proper Chelsea celebrations after our 3-0 victory against Aston Villa yesterday #CFC #ChelseaFC pic.twitter.com/eeKZvLFysg

— Chelsea FC Podcast (@chelsea_podcast) December 2, 2024

They managed to turn their form around in the next two games, as they beat Brentford and Southampton, but both those results aren’t unexpected so many fans feel as if this isn’t much of a change in form. Their last match may have proven them right, as they bottled a lead against Nottingham Forest, who look like real European contenders this season. This match came after another Champions League outing against RB Leipzig.

Player of the Season

Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran both started this season quite slowly, however they are now back to full form with seven and six goals respectively. Watkins just edges it in my opinion, as he also has three assists, second only to Youri Tielemans in the Aston Villa squad.

Season Rank: B

End of Season Prediction: 9th

Check out our Christmas Countdown article from yesterday.