Villa blog: History counts for little in a relegation battle
With a void at the club following the exit of Tim Sherwood, Villa face off against Tottenham Hotspur, writes Express & Star Villa blogger Matt Turvey.
Quite how the game will go is anyone's guess, but fans are likely to be less than optimistic when it comes to the result – after all, Villa have managed just one win this season, and few will be expecting anything at White Hart Lane.
Perhaps Tim Sherwood – given his previous experience at Spurs – could have been a man to inspire a win, but the truth is that Villa fans will never know given his sacking. Instead, Villa have to find within themselves to pull out something in order to start their way toward safety.
The club, stuck in the bottom three regardless of the result, are in a desperate situation, although this isn't exactly news for anyone following Villa for any period of time given they have fallen from top-six finishes under Martin O'Neill to a position where they may well be lucky to stay in the Premier League.
The frustrating thing is that back under O'Neill, Spurs and Villa were similar teams competing at the right end of the table, but nowadays they are poles apart. Some will put that down to managerial choices or a board who have been poor with their own strategy.
History will tell its own story, as it always does, but whatever happens, there are challenges that the club have to face which Randy Lerner will suffer the financial consequences of.
On the pitch, the questions are obvious – will Villa manage to make the most of a side that have been hastily constructed from Ligue 1? Will Jack Grealish manage to have as much game time going forward now that Sherwood has exited the club? Will the club survive at all? Tonight won't define the season in itself, but Villa need to start taking points or else it will be curtains.
Fans will argue that the club is a big one – one that shouldn't be in the current position they are in – but history counts for little, and should Villa go down, they could find themselves entrenched in a group like Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday.
