Can Di Matteo's Villa recover lost ground?

After a slow start to the Championship, Roberto Di Matteo must start to proove his worth to Aston Villa, who are looking to end their ever expanding winless streak today.

After winning just one of their first seven games in the Championship, a real sense of urgency looms over the boys in Claret and Blue. Villa currently sit in 17th place, all they need is a change of fortune and an away win today to get the ball rolling on their promotion playoff push. Villa cannot continue their current form, a disappointing midweek result sparked rumours of lost faith in Di Matteo and Steve Bruce waiting in the rings for the Aston Villa job. A slow start to the campaign was expected, but change needs to come sooner than later, with everyone, including the noisy blue neighbours from down the streets taking impressive 3pts home and away.

Villa’s Da Laet suffered a serious ligament problem and will likely be out for the entire season, Bacuna will likely slot into Ritchie’s former position. The #7 has made a good start to the season, looking good in defense and going forward out wide. AdoTmah, Grealish and ball winner Tshibola ae all fit to play and in contention. The boys will look to play a much different game, as centre forward Ross McCormack suffers a minor knock. The Tractor Boys Ipswich picked up an impressive win over Derby in the last week, but will be without their new starting centre half.

Villa carry around with them, a terrible mentality. No major trophy in over 20 years, no win away from Villa Park in over 400 days, and not a single league comeback since 2014. While Villa Park has yet to see a loss this season, Villa haven’t exactly set the world on fire so far, they’ve dropped 9pts from winning positions so far. This is where the frustrations lie with th current Lions’ squad, If a game of football was 80 minutes long, we’d be challenging for the league title, but they aren’t so we are down the pile, and looking for consolidation later today.