Express & Star

Monday Analysis: Aston Villa heading towards play-offs with confidence restored

By 10pm on Tuesday, Villa’s lingering hopes of automatic promotion could finally be extinguished.

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Yet even if their only remaining route to the Premier League lies through the play-offs – and frankly, it has appeared that way for several weeks – Steve Bruce’s team are at least now striding towards them having recovered some significant momentum.

Saturday’s 4-0 stroll in the Ipswich sun was Villa’s fourth victory in five games since the winless three-match streak which, in all likelihood, doomed their chances of a top-two finish.

Such a run also brings cause for regret. There are many who will study the Championship table and wonder what might have been had just one of the sorry results against QPR, Bolton and Norwich been reversed in Villa’s favour.

This is no time, however, for Bruce and his men to dwell on the past.

While it is true the play-offs can often see form go out of the window, Villa are undoubtedly in a better place than they were only a few weeks previously, particularly after their last trip to East Anglia which led to the manager delivering a rare tongue-lashing to his troops.

Confidence has been restored, if not quite the swagger seen during the run of 10 wins in 12 which culminated with last month’s 4-1 demolition of Wolves.

By the same token, Bruce will know that no matter what fate awaits his team over the next few weeks, from now on nothing will come so easy as it did at Portman Road. A home side whose attentions long ago turned toward next season were dislodged with the minimum of fuss.

Villa were in control from the moment Conor Hourihane prodded them into a 25th-minute lead, while Grant Ward’s dismissal on the stroke of half-time – for a rash challenge on Neil Taylor – ensured the only question entering the second half was the margin of victory.

But even taking the standard of the opposition into account, there were still a number of tangible positives for Bruce to take forward. After all, Villa equalled their best away win of the season despite fielding a team missing skipper John Terry, with influential wing duo Albert Adomah and Robert Snodgrass also given a rest.

In their place, both Josh Onomah and Glenn Whelan submitted performances more reminiscent of their impressive early-season form, while Mile Jedinak – who once again deputised for Terry in the heart of defence – helped Villa to a third consecutive clean sheet.

None, however, could quite match the statement made by Lewis Grabban, whose second-half brace took his tally since joining Villa to seven in 13 games.

Jonathan Kodjia might be back in contention, yet it is surely Grabban who has established himself as the club’s first-choice striker ahead of the play-offs.

His hold-up play – combined with his lethal finishing – helped Villa to dominate. Grabban had a big hand in the opener, with his shot deflecting off Cole Skuse and then the post before being finished by Hourihane.

The on-loan Bournemouth man then doubled the advantage by collecting Onomah’s pass and turning the hapless Jonas Knudsen before firing in off the post, while another smart finish brought his second before substitute Henri Lansbury completed the scoring eight minutes from time.

Bruce’s decision to keep Snodgrass on the bench, ending a run of 38 consecutive appearances for the Scot, gave the clearest indication yet the manager is now preparing for the play-offs.

In the short-term, Villa’s attentions now turn to Derby, first tomorrow when the Rams host Cardiff and then next Saturday, when they visit Villa Park.

A final day trip to Millwall means there is now a chance, at the very least, for Villa to influence who might join them in the play-offs.

Some consolation, perhaps, for two games which really should have meant so much more.

Villa (4-1-4-1): Johnstone 6, Elmohamady 6, Chester (c) 7, Jedinak 7, Taylor 6 (Hogan 64, 5), Whelan 7, Onomah 7, Grealish 7, Hourihane 7 (Lansbury 6, 74), Bjarnason 6, Grabban 8 (Adomah 83). Subs not used: Samba, Snodgrass, Bree, Bunn (gk).