Stuttering Aston Villa start 21 days which could define Premier League season

Four league fixtures in the space of 21 days, starting with Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth, pit Unai Emery’s team against four opponents in the bottom half of the table.

Win all four and it would not be a surprise to find Villa end February once more near the heels of leaders Arsenal.

Lose a couple and the title dream can be forgotten while, more worryingly, back-to-back fixtures with Chelsea and Manchester United in March may suddenly have the feel of six-pointers in the race for Champions League football.

Villa’s lead over the latter two rivals has been cut thanks to a past month which saw them slip-up where you least expected.

Anyone looking at the January fixture list would have immediately pinpointed trips to Crystal Palace and Newcastle as the most likely points Emery’s men would come a cropper.

Yet those matches returned a haul of four points, including a first win away to the Magpies since 2005.

More shocking was the fact home matches against Everton and Brentford delivered defeats, not to mention no goals from the hosts, who went into the former fixture on a run of 10 straight wins in all competitions on their own turf.

If there is encouragement to be found, heading into Bournemouth, it is Villa have been just as good on the road as they have at home through much of the season.

Arsenal are the only team to have claimed more victories on their travels and Emery’s have won six of the last nine.

Villa’s boss used his post-match press conference after last weekend’s loss to Brentford to stress the need for balance.

It tends to be the Spaniard’s customary refrain whenever his team suffer a setback but another of his oft-repeated phrases undoubtedly true is the season is contested over 38 matches.

Villa, despite a wobble which has seen them lose three of their last six top flight matches, are still excellently placed in third. Their current haul of 46 points is nine more than they had at the same stage of last season, when they missed out on Champions League football on goal difference. Much as every match feels that bit more important the closer you get to the finish, so there is also still a long way to go.

Bournemouth were threatening to be rivals in the top-four race earlier in the season, only for a run of 11 matches without a win to send them sliding down the table.

A return of 10 points from their last four matches has eased fears of being dragged into a relegation battle and earned their head coach, Andoni Iraola, a manager of the month award nomination.

Villa striker Ollie Watkins will hope to be back fit to play at a venue where last season he netted the only goal to become the club’s all-time Premier League top scorer.