Will Aston Villa survive the drop this season?

Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert will be looking for his team to claim a surprise victory against Manchester City on Monday night

I really don’t know what to make of Aston Villa sometimes.

The Villans are a big club, but have been struggling in mediocrity in recent years.

The last few years has seen them slip towards the bottom of the table.

Aston Villa host reigning champions Manchester City on Monday night at Villa Park. The clash will be difficult and Villa desperately need a victory.

Tough

The quality of the players at Aston Villa is really poor. People may argue that most of the team are young players, but the Premier League is an unforgiving place to learn your trade.

Unfortunately there are too many young players in the Villa first team that may never make it as top flight footballers.

Underachieving

The experienced players within the Villa squad are underachieving. The likes of Stephen Ireland and Charles N’Zogbia arrived with big reputations and big price tags. Unfortunately neither have found their best form or any sort of consistency.

Ireland made a bright start to his career with Manchester City, but since then he has failed to live up to expectations during spells at Newcastle and more recently at Villa.

N’Zogbia is such a frustrating player. He has the natural ability to win games on his own. The Frenchman must be the most technically gifted footballer at Villa. However, he is just woefully inconsistent.

At times his attitude can also be poor. He sulks and throws his toys out of the pram when things aren’t going his way. It’s this sort of attitude that really needs to change if Villa are to survive the drop this season.

If N’Zogbia finds his form then Villa will have a far better chance of beating the drop. N’Zogbia can be an inspirational player on top form.

Strange

Paul Lambert’s row with England striker Darren Bent is very strange. Villa are struggling at the bottom of the table and are in need of all the quality players available to them. Yet, the Villans leave a prolific proven goalscorer on the substitute bench.

Bent may be a bit one dimensional, but he scores goals. I’m sure Bent would make a good strike partner for Villa’s outstanding young striker Christian Benteke. Surely Villa would be more of a threat with the pair up front.

Villa aren’t struggling for goals at the moment, but Villa would score far more goals with Bent in their team, although Bent is at his most effective when he has players to supply him with chances.

Villa don’t have the wide players in their team this season that they have had in recent years. That means that Bent has become less effective. However, I’m sure Bent can still score goals in the current team.

Villa boss Paul Lambert has denied that there is a rife between him and the England international. However, Bent is constantly overlooked for Villa starting line-ups.

Mixed

Aston Villa face a difficult task to stay up this season, but a number of results on Saturday have done their way. The Villans have some difficult matches to come from now to the end of the season.

Lambert’s side face Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, as well as Manchester City on Monday night. However, Villa also face rivals QPR and Reading in the next few fixtures after the City clash. Those games could be the ones that decide Villa’s fate and are must win clashes.

Difficult

Monday night’s game against the reigning champions will no doubt be difficult. Anything that Villa can claim against the Citizens will surely be a bonus. A win against the champions would provide the Midlanders with a major morale boost though.

A Villa win seems unlikely, but a Southampton victory against City a few weeks ago seemed unlikely and the Saints claimed maximum points. In football you just never know. One thing that is for sure is that Villa need to start to collect points or they could be facing up to life in the Championship.

Will Aston Villa survive the drop this season?