Villa face Southampton at Villa Park on Saturday, in their first game since relegation was confirmed last weekend.
Villa, who have lost their last nine games, will take solace from the fact that the reverse fixture which occurred in December, saw Villa put in one of their best performances of the season as they drew 1-1 at St Mary’s.
Last weekend’s defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford saw relegation to the Championship confirmed and caretaker manager Eric Black will be hoping his side can finally put in a performance that the home fans can be proud of.
The team news for Villa is that Gabby Agbonlahor is once again unavailable, having been suspended for the second time in the space of a month, after pictures emerged of him partying hours after Villa’s relegation was confirmed last weekend.
Meanwhile, Adama Traore and Jack Grealish are once again pushing for a first team start, having been curiously left on the bench in favour of Leonardo Bacuna and Kieran Richardson in recent weeks.
This weekend’s visitors, Southampton, have enjoyed another good season under Ronald Koeman, with the Saints currently sitting in eighth place in the Premier League.
Koeman, who replaced Mauricio Pochettino in June 2014, led Southampton to a seventh place finish and is on course to do so again this season. Southampton have been on a good run of form of late, with three wins in their last five games including a fantastic comeback win against Liverpool.
The team news for Southampton is positive, with Ronald Koeman confirming that Charlie Austin is the only player unavailble for the Saints. Victor Wanyama and Jose Fonte are both availble, despite having picked up injuries during last weekend’s draw against Everton.
In truth, it’s quite easy to predict that Southampton will win this game comfortably, but those Villa fans that turn up at Villa Park on Saturday will hope that they finally see a good performance.
