Former Aston Villa centre-forward Dion Dublin has been discussing the club’s chances of Premier League survival on a recent episode of the BBC’s Football Daily podcast.
The show was recorded shortly after Watford extended their lead over Dean Smith’s side in the table to four points although the Birmingham-based club have played a game less.
Aston Villa have struggled this season having won just seven of their 33 fixtures so far, drawing six and losing on 20 occasions – only Norwich City have lost more (via BBC Sport).
Dublin was asked if the table is starting to look worrying for his former club and he said: “Yeah, it is. A couple of games ago, I’m thinking you know what, I think Villa might just get out of this and now I’m looking, thinking I can’t see how. There are no goals in the team and defensively they’re all over the place. They don’t seem to have that grit, I’m not seeing anything from Norwich, Bournemouth or Villa, the bottom three teams, that says to me ‘right. we’re having a proper good scrap now, we need to stay up.'”
Do you think Aston Villa can avoid the drop this season?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
Only Norwich City have conceded more goals in the top-flight this season than Aston Villa which certainly backs up Dublin’s point regarding the team being defensively poor. The Lions are without a win in their last five league fixtures, therefore, we can understand why their former striker is beginning to feel concerned about their current position.
Jack Grealish is the club’s top goalscorer, followed by Conor Hourihane and Anwar El Ghazi (via BBC Sport), none of whom are centre-forwards, therefore you could argue that has been a problem position for Dean Smith’s men since the start of the campaign.