- Arsenal v Villa. Are Villa really the challengers the media thought they might be
- How the transfer regulations have changed and Arsenal’s response to the changes
By Bulldog Drummond
That Villa only drew at home to Bournemouth in October was put down to the exertions of a home win over Bologna in the Champions League four days before. The subsequent home defeat in the League Cup was, we were told, due to the fact that Villa now had bigger fish to fry. Then apparently the 4-1 thumping they suffered away to Tottenham was utterly due to Tottenham’s magnificence and a sign that the Totts far from being on their uppers, were on the up even though they were behind Villa in the League.
After that the subsequent defeats to Club Brugge and Liverpool away, and the home draws with Palace and Juventus were all likewise excused and it was only after a 3-0 thumping by Chelsea on 1 December that the media realised that Villa were not quite as “up for it” as their friendly journalists were thinking.
Although to be fair the BBC did predict Villa would come in sixth before the season started and the club might make that, but in effect while Villa can beat West Ham, Leicester and Everton as they have done in their last three games they really can’t hack it with the big boys.
Those victories of course makes Villa look rather good, but obviously they are away for their next match so let’s do a proper comparison in terms of the game to come, as we normally do.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal home | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 24 |
| 11 | Aston Villa away | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 19 | -7 | 13 |
As you can see the difference between the clubs is huge and it is worth taking a look at Villa playing away in recent times.
| Date | Game | Res | Score |
| 03 Nov 2024 | Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa | L | 4-1 |
| 09 Nov 2024 | Liverpool v Aston Villa | L | 2-0 |
| 01 Dec 2024 | Chelsea v Aston Villa | L | 3-0 |
| 14 Dec 2024 | Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa | L | 2-1 |
| 26 Dec 2024 | Newcastle United v Aston Villa | L | 3-0 |
| 15 Jan 2025 | Everton v Aston Villa | W | 0-1 |
So that is a pretty appalling record for a club that was going to challenge to be in the top four this season. And even the away win on 15 January against Everton has a big question mark hanging over it, since Everton have actually only won two home games all season. One might think that if Villa can’t beat Everton away, there is no one they can bring down. Indeed Tottenham scored four against them!!!
But this is not just to say that Aston Villa are completely out of everything. If we take a look at the last six games table we find them four points and nine goals behind Arsenal.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Arsenal home | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 14 |
| 7 | Aston Villa away | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 10 |
The fact is that like so many clubs it is Aston Villa’s home form that keeps them. Their away form is not hopeless of late, but it still leaves quite a bit to be desired.
What really did it for Villa, at least so far this season was the run between 30 October and 1 December 2024 during which they played seven games in all competitions and won not a single one, getting just two draws along the way. Yes they have won their last three games in league and cup, but these have been against Leicseter City, West Ham United and Everton. Leicester are 20th in the last six games table, Everton are 18th and Weest Ham are ninth (won two, drawn two, lost two), so it is not as if Aston Villa have been particularly tested in the league of late.
And indeed once again we are drawn to the very screwy way in which the fixtures were arranged this year with some teams like Arsenal having a long series of games against the top clubs early on (resulting inevitably in calls for the manager to be sacked) while Villa had quite an easy ride.
Thus in the run from 31 August Aston Villa played seven league and league cup matches, winning five and drawing two. This really does look like good form and suggests their subsequent fall from grace will be hard to explain.
But that is only if one fails to look at the opposition. For the clubs Villa played in the league and league cup over these seven consecutive games in which they were undefeated were, Leicester City, Everton, Wolverhampton Wanders, Wycombe Wanderers, Ipswich, Manchester United and Fulham. In contrast Arsenal had away games with Tottenham, Manchester City, and Bournemouth and only the home games against Leicester and Southampton could be considered easier rides. Yet again in terms of fixtures, we see a most unbalanced season.
Sadly no one in the media is wanting to know why this happened.
