OPINION
Stan Collymore has now been proven to have embarrassed himself in December when he made the prediction that Aston Villa would finish above West Brom in the Championship standings.
On Saturday, the Baggies asserted their dominance over their West Midlands neighbours with a convincing 2-0 win at Villa Park, meaning that the Villans have failed to win any of their last four meetings with the boys in blue and white stripes.
Goals in the first-half by Hal Robson-Kanu and Jay Rodriguez mean West Brom are now a massive 13 points ahead of Aston Villa in the league table, with Dean Smith’s side just three points away from a drop down to 15th place.
If it wasn’t clear already, Villa’s promotion hopes are now in tatters, and so is Collymore’s prediction just two months ago that Villa would finish higher than Albion.
Collymore claimed via his personal Twitter account that Villa are “much better” than West Brom in terms of “depth and talent”.
He also told BBC Tennis commentator David Law, a West Brom fan, that he would be willing to bet on Villa finishing higher than the Baggies.
Will take a point in the cold light of Sandwell.
We're better than them though in depth and talent, much better.
Means zero unless we have consistency.#UTV
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) December 7, 2018
I'll take as much as you're willing to stake that Aston Villa finish above West Bromwich Albion in the table this season.
Becas bold as you like. https://t.co/mVPlvINF84
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) December 7, 2018
Collymore has now conceded defeat in that bet already, showing how wrong he was to claim that his former club Aston Villa has better players than West Brom.
Darren Moore’s side was without a bunch of key players for Saturday’s showdown at Villa Park with Dwight Gayle missing through suspension and Matt Phillips through injury.
Villa have been without Jack Grealish, but the fact that their form has been so poor while he has been injured, suggests that Collymore was completely wrong to say Smith had better strength in depth in his squad.
Collymore may want to have a better think about his predictions before posting them on social media from now on.
His beloved Aston Villa now sit two points behind Birmingham and are the lowest ranked West Midlands club in the top two tiers.