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Blog: Make trip count or start facing reality

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With the first game under Tim Sherwood yielding no points, Villa must hit the ground soon or face an uphill struggle for survival, writes blogger Matt Turvey.

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This weekend, Tim Sherwood has the opportunity to turn things around for the club against a Newcastle United side that have failed to win in the last three, and have had five put past them in their last game against Manchester City.

It is far too early in Sherwood's time at the club to be stating whether he will be a success or a failure, but Aston Villa's chances of survival hinge on getting results quickly.

Despite this being arguably the worst Premier League season to date - at least in terms of large numbers of teams being average or worse - Villa can't afford to rest on their laurels.

Should they do so, there is a strong chance that the club will lose it's top flight status for the first time in 28 years. In the last game, Villa were largely predictable.

Despite starting well, tactically Sherwood will have to admit that he got things wrong.

He played directly into Stoke's hands with long, high balls that were regularly blocked by a strong defensive line - nobody is saying style is important this season, but success is and Villa have been far less than successful at home.

Strong minded talk of attack has, so far, been a positive for fans as Sherwood took the reins from Paul Lambert, but words alone mean nothing - what Villa need now are points, and the sooner the better.

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Why? Villa face a very challenging April against both Manchester clubs and Tottenham Hotspur plus a game against relegation rivals Queens Park Rangers.

Some may scoff at the idea that Manchester United are a top team, but their position in third place shows their threat must be taken seriously, despite a comparative drop down in quality since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Getting back to the Newcastle team, it would be foolish to suggest that this is an easy game, even if the home team will be low on confidence after the 5-0 humbling against the Citizen's.

Newcastle arguably have little to lose if they attack, although it could be argued that counter-attacking suits Villa better as they tend to lack the technical ability to pass the ball around teams.

What happens next is anyone's guess in terms of whether Villa can do enough to stay up, but unless Villa can build points - and confidence - it could well be the end of the line for one of the Premier League's original founders.

You can follow Matt Turvey's regular opinions at his own site, www.astonvillalife.com, via the site's Twitter account @astonvillalife, or via his own Twitter account @mturvey_star.