Aston Villa suffered yet another devastating loss on Tuesday evening as they were humbled 3-1 at home by Barnsley.
At the start of the year, all the talk was about how Villa could earn a play-off position so that they could achieve promotion to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Now, 7 defeats and a solitary draw later, promotion has long since disappeared over the horizon and Villa find themselves edging ever closer to the dreaded relegation zone instead.
As it stands, Villa are just 7 points above relegation and with Newcastle and Derby up next, it’s difficult to see them picking up vital points any time soon. Fail to pick up any points in those two games, and come the game against Rotherham on March 4th, they could be right in the thick of a relegation scrap.
Villa play league leaders Newcastle at St. James’ Park on Monday night and, based on the two teams’ current contrasting form, not even the most optimistic of Villa fans will not be expecting to get anything from this one. Most fans would be very happy with a point on Monday as it will finally stop the rot.
Here’s our predicted XI for the game against Newcastle on Monday:
