Aston Villa Away Form – The Saving Grace of the Club

Aston Villa Away Form…Thank God

Home Blues

You’ve got to feel sorry for Aston Villa season ticket holders. The team’s one win and four defeats this season has continued on from the woeful home records of the previous two.

In the Premiership, currently, there are three teams with only three points (a single win) to show from their first five home games. West Ham, who Villa visit in their next game, have three points and a single win from four games.

In the home form of the season so far, Villa rank 17th in the Premier League. That’s relegation battle form. Last season only Wigan and QPR got less home points than Villa. It’s a worrying trend.

Having managed only five wins last season, Villa were even worse in Alex McLeish’s reign when they could only chalk up four wins in 19 games (to his credit, at least McLeish knew how to draw a game). For a team like Villa, who historically have been pretty strong at Villa Park, it’s nothing short of a home horror show.

If the Premier League’s idea of the ’39th Game’ ever came to fruition then probably Villa would be the front of the queue asking for one of their home games to be played abroad.

Aston Villa Away Form Saving Grace

What is keeping Villa afloat at the moment is quite simply their away form. Last season, only six teams had better away records than Villa (you can probably guess them), with Villa accumulating 21 points, the same as Everton. If Villa had finished with lets say the average home form of Houlier’s Villa’s team (W8 D7 L4), Villa would have finished comfortably 8th last season above the Baggies.

Again, this season, Villa would have been ever-present in the top half, if only they could at least have an average record at home.

Currently this season, Villa are a top six team when it comes to their travels, as we can see from the current away form table:

At the moment, Aston Villa away form is better than the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and United. How and why, Villa get success away from home is no secret, they are the masters of the counter-attack, which suits the away game scenario when the onus is on the home teams to take the game to their visitors.

This trend of Lambert’s team mirrors the philosophy and make-up of Martin O’Neill’s Villa team. In the last two seasons of his reign when Villa finished sixth both times, the team recorded more away wins than at home.

While the Aston Villa away form in recent years is something to be proud about, the style that helps to achieve it, doesn’t translate well at Villa Park. With easier games now coming up for Villa, lets hope for the sake of season ticket holders who have had to suffer humiliation week-in, week-out, Lambert can set about finding a way tactically to mirror away results to create some home comforts this winter. UTV