Joe Mercer's Villa lose four successive games for the first time since 1958-59 under Eric Houghton which led to Mercer’s appointment in December 1958. Villa’s latest fixture is their third in nine days as their wildly interrupted season delivered the inevitable fixture list congestion in the final two months of the season. Villa did however manage to score for the first time in four matches to make it twelve wins, seven draws and eleven defeats in thirty division one games so far this season as a campaign of such promise before the fixture interruption collapses further.