Villa lose badly for the second game in all competitions as Dean Smith suffers his first real set-back to leave Villa with five wins, five draws and two defeats in their last twelve Championship matches. 

Centre back Kortney Hause makes his Villa debut aged 23 after joining on loan to the end of the season from Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this month to become the 926th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

James Bree makes his 28th and final appearance in a Villa shirt (21 Starts) to leave with a record of W10 D7 L11, 0 Goals, 0 Assists and 0 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Goalkeeper Lovre Kalinić’s nightmare start to his Villa career continues as despite some good showings during the match he concedes three goals once again to make it 6 concessions in 2 games and a record of W0 D0 L2 so far in his Villa career.

Birkir Bjarnason's 90’+4 goal makes it two wins in two for Villa under Steve Bruce.

Midfielder John McGinn makes his Villa debut aged 23 after joining from Hibernian FC for a fee of £2,790,000 earlier this month to become the 920th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland makes his Villa debut aged 27 after joining from FC Ingolstadt for a fee of £2,700,000 earlier this month to become the 919th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Birkir Bjarnason scores his 5th goal in a Villa shirt on his 39th appearance (21 Starts) to make it W23 D4 L12, 5 Goals, 3 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa ease past high flying League one side Wigan in the second round of the EFL Cup.

Birkir Bjarnason scores his 1st goal and contributes his 1st assist in a Villa shirt on his 11th appearance (14 Starts) to make it W6 D3 L9, 1 Goal and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Scott Hogan scores a brace to make it 4 goals Villa shirt after 18 appearances (11 Starts) but it only comes against lower league opposition to make it W5 D3 L7, 4 Goals, 2 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career. Hogan however had just 1 league goal in his first 18 games and had failed to score in the league in 11 outings.

Albert Adomah contributes his 11th assist in a Villa shirt on his 43rd appearance (33 Starts) to make it W17 D10 L16, 4 Goals, 11 Assists and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Ritchie De Laet contributes his only assists in a Villa shirt on his 6th appearance (5 Starts) to make it W2 D2 L2, 1 Assist and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Midfielder Jake Doyle-Hayes makes his Villa debut aged 18 after coming through the youth team ranks and signing professional forms in July 2016. 

Right back Mitch Clark makes his sole appearance for Villa aged 18 after coming through the youth team ranks and signing professional forms in July 2016. Clark was released by Villa in July 2019 without making a further appearance for the club. 

Centre back Easah Suliman makes his sole appearance for Villa aged 19 as an 81’ substitute after coming through the youth team ranks and signing professional forms in July 2015. Suliman left Villa for Vitória Guimarães SC in January 2020 for an undisclosed fee without making a further appearance for the club. 

Midfielder Gary Gardner makes his final appearance for Villa aged 25 after 9 seasons with the club. Gardner made 25 starts for Villa and appeared a further 26 times as a substitute, scoring once to leave with a record of W18 D13 L15, 1 Goal and 3 Bookings. Gardner would leave Villa in July 2019 as part of a swap deal for Jota with Birmingham City. 

James Bree makes his 10th appearance in a Villa shirt (8 Starts) to make it W6 D1 L3 so far in his Villa career.

Khalid Abdo, Oscar Borg and Jordan Cox make their sole squad appearances for Villa.

Steve Bruce's Villa win their fifth game in six as their form has reversed from eight defeats in nine from the start of 2017.

Scott Hogan scores his first goal in a Villa shirt on his 5th appearance (4 Starts) to make it W1 D0 L4, 1 Goal, 0 Assists and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Villa bounce back from their first defeat under Steve Bruce to win for the fifth time in nine games.

Jordan Ayew secures his 10th win in a Villa shirt on his 55th appearance (46 Starts) to make it W10 D17 L28, 10 Goals, 4 Assists, 13 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Pierluigi Gollini keeps his 5th clean sheet in a Villa shirt on his 19th appearance to make it W6 D10 L3, 19 Goals Conceded and 5 Clean Sheets so far in his Villa career.

Villa end the season safe from relegation as ‘Petrov day’ celebrates the career and retirement of Villa great Stiliyan Petrov.

Villa end this most difficult of campaigns with a draw at relegated Wigan to leave them with a stack of unwanted records and with a host of players either exiled or underperforming by this most bewildering of regimes. 

It would be difficult to imagine that a season without relegation could have been much worse. 

Off the pitch there was chaos and recrimination with the infamous Bomb Squad of first team players not to be considered for duty robbing Villa of crucial experience, whilst players and systems were constantly changed leaving an incoherent manager presiding over an incoherent style of play. 

Record defeats, lower league humiliation, sub par players and performances, the banishment of effective first teamers and a malevolent discontent meant that in normal circumstances Paul Lambert would have been another one term manager consigned to the dustbin of failure. 

These weren’t normal times however as a distracted and disconnected Chairman seemed to accept and encourage this most bewildering of management regimes. 

In truth Villa’s form throughout the season meant they should have been relegated. Villa though avoid relegation under Paul Lambert at the last thanks to the goals of Christian Benteke and latterly Gabriel Agbonlahor without which a first relegation since 1986 was inevitable. 

Perhaps that end to the season bred over confidence, if true it’s difficult to understand the chutzpah of forgetting the other 40 odd games of mostly ineptitude. 

Whatever it was, this most undeserving of managers got an apparently emboldened endorsement for a second season. 

Consider the statistics: 

Paul Lambert has now led Villa to 16 defeats in 38 games in the 2012-13 season. 

Much maligned Alex McLeish delivered 14 defeats across the entire 2011-12 season. 

Lambert had hit that total in just 28 games. 

Villa have conceded 3 or more goals on 9 occasions across 38 Premier League under Paul Lambert.

McLeish had suffered four such games over the 38 game 2011-23 season. 

In his first season as manager of the club, Paul Lambert delivered the biggest defeat in Villa’s history, 0-8 to Chelsea.

In his first season as manager of the club, Paul Lambert set the record for the most goals conceded in successive games in Premier League history. 

Villa secured 5 wins in 25 League games under Paul Lambert. The five wins in the final ten games that effectively saved Villa came against Reading (19th, relegated), Queens Park Rangers (20th, relegated), Stoke City (13th, one point above Villa), Sunderland (17th) and Norwich. 

McLeish had delivered that many by New Years Eve 2011. 

Villa were never out of the bottom five under Paul Lambert in 2012-13, spending most of the season in 17th and 18th until the six-pointers against relegation rivals at the end of the season lifted them to a barely believable 15th placed finish.

McLeish’s Villa never dropped lower than 15th until the final two games of the season when they fell to 16th after finishing without a win in ten. 

Yet Lambert was not only still feted by a section of the support to the same degree as McLeish was hated, he was confirmed as manager of the club for 2013-14 even before the final placings had been realised. 

Darren Bent scores his 25th goal in a Villa shirt on his 63rd appearance (51 Starts) and had now been substitute in 11 of his last 17 games, starting just three League games, having only been a sub once in his first 46. Bent's record now stood at W24 D18 L21, 25 Goals, 3 Assists and 2 Bookings having scored 6 times in 23 games under Lambert - with 3 of those goals coming against lower league cup opposition - compared to 19 in 40 under his predecessors (1 Cup Goal against Premier League opposition). This would prove to be Bent’s last game in a Villa shirt for 43 games as Lambert would exclude the player from selection for the entirety of the 2013-14 season for no apparent reason.

Forward Simon Dawkins makes his 4th and final appearance for Villa (0 Starts) aged 25 before returning to Tottenham Hotspur at the end of his loan spell. Dawkins, never looking a Premier League player during his 5 months with Villa, left with a record of W1 D1 L1, 0 Goal, 0 Assists and 0 Bookings from his 71 minutes on the field for Villa.

Brad Guzan concedes his 100th goal in a Villa shirt on his 67th appearance (65 Starts) to make it W26 D15 L26, 100 Goals Conceded, 14 Clean Sheets, 1.68 Goals per League Game and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Fabian Delph makes his 50th start in a Villa shirt (66 Appearances) to make it W24 D18 L24, 2 Goals and 20 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa are destroyed for the third consecutive game and have now conceded fifteen without scoring as Paul Lambert continues to plumb new depths without mitigation and with no reaction from an incompetent boardroom.

Villa concede their 13th, 14th and 15th goal in the last 3 games without reply under Paul Lambert.

Villa have now lost 10 of their 20 Premier League matches under Lambert.

Villa have now conceded three or more goals on seven occasions under Lambert.

Wigan had picked up only one point from a possible 18 before this game. 

Lambert's predecessor, the much maligned Alex McLeish, presided over 14 Premier League defeats across the entire 38 game campaign last season, conceding 3 or more goals on 4 occasions.

Brad Guzan concedes his 70th goal in a Villa shirt on his 49th appearance (47 Starts) to make it W20 D10 L19, 70 Goals Conceded, 14 Clean Sheets, 1.69 Goals per League Game and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Matt Lowton suffers his 10th defeat in a Villa shirt on his 24th appearance to make it W8 D6 L10, 1 Goal and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa record a fifth goalless game and eleventh draw under Alex McLeish to make it just six wins in twenty six Premier League games as the patience from the stands finally breaks out into open warfare on the manager.

Alex McLeish's Villa stop a run of two defeats with an eleventh draw of the season but the fans aren't happy and let the manager know it in no uncertain terms as the draw with bottom club Wigan keeps Villa in 15th place. 

Emile Heskey makes his 100th appearance in a Villa shirt (65 Starts) to make it W37 D33 L30, 14 Goals, 5 Assists, 9 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Shay Given keeps his 5th clean sheet on his 22nd appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W4 D10 L8, 31 Goals Conceded, 5 Clean Sheets and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Robbie Keane plays the last game of his 7 Games (5 Starts) of his 2 month loan from LA Galaxy, during which time he recorded W1 D3 L3, 3 goals and 1 Assist.

Off the pitch, Villa announce record losses of £54m for 2010-11 after allowing players to leave far below their true value in recent seasons.

Villa win for the first time in five Premier League games to extend their unbeaten run in the top tier to seven games at the start of the season under Alex McLeish.

Gabriel Agbonlahor makes his 225th appearance and scores his 60th goal in a Villa shirt (203 Starts) to make it W89 D69 L67, 60 Goals, 27 Assists and 22 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Darren Bent secures his 10th win in a Villa shirt on his 22nd appearance to make it W10 D8 L4, 11 Goals and 2 Assists so far in his Villa career.

Barry Bannan contributes his 5th goal involvement and secures his 10th win in a Villa shirt on his 29th appearance (20 Starts) to make it W10 D9 L10, 2 Goal, 3 Assists and 3 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Caretaker Gary McAllister, yet to win, sees Villa fall back to 14th in the table, six points clear of the relegation zone with two games to play.

Stiliyan Petrov makes his 175th start in a Villa shirt (187 Appearances) to make it W77 D59 L51, 8 Goals, 9 Assists and 31 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Emile Heskey has a on and off pitch meltdown after a 33' confrontation with referee Mike Jones that precipitated a booking and a rearguard action by his teammates to prevent him being sent off. Heskey's ire simmered into the interval where squad members had to restrain him from Jones. Gary McAllister substituted Heskey for the second half and took the unprecedented step of sending the player home.

Villa win consecutive Premier League matches under Gérard Houllier as back to back wins give Villa critical breathing room to climb to 13th and six points clear of the drop zone.

Gérard Houllier fields a second new signing in consecutive games as Jean Makoun, a £5.58m from Olympique Lyonnais, taking Villa's investment in Houllier to just shy of £25m.

Jean Makoun makes his debut after his £5.58m move from Olympique Lyonnais to become the 833rd player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Nathan Baker makes his Villa debut after coming through the youth ranks to become the 834th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Ashley Young makes his 175th appearance for the club (172 Starts) to make it W77 D52 L46, 35 Goals, 57 Assists, 30 Bookings and 2 Red Cards  so far in his Villa career.

Nigel Reo-Coker secures his 50th win in a Villa shirt on his 110th appearance (95 Starts) to make it W50 D29 L31, 3 Goals, 5 Assists, 22 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

James Collins secures his 25th win in a Villa shirt on his 62nd appearance (59 Starts) to make it W25 D20 L17, 4 Goals and 12 Bookings  so far in his Villa career.

Villa extend their unbeaten League run to eight under Martin O'Neill in 2010 winning for the third time with a Champions League place still possible as they sit 7th in the table with 10 to play.

Carlos Cuéllar makes his 75th appearance in a Villa shirt (71 Starts) to make it W38 D20 L17, 3 Goal, 3 Assists, 12 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

James Collins makes his 25th start in a Villa shirt (26 Appearances) to make it W13 D10 L3, 2 Goals and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Emile Heskey secures his 20th win in a Villa shirt on his 47th appearance (35 Starts) to make it W20 D16 L11, 7 Goals, 2 Assists and 3 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa open the season with a surprise defeat to a Wigan side they had finished seventeen points ahead of in 2008-09.

Right back Habib Bèye, 32, makes his debut in a Villa shirt after joining from Newcastle United in an eye-brow raising £2,610,000 move earlier this month to become the 817th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Midfielder Fabian Delph, 19, makes his debut in a Villa shirt after joining from Leeds United for a fee of £8,550,000 earlier this month to become the 818th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Marc Albrighton makes his 2nd appearance in a Villa shirt 6 months after his first in Moscow.

Villa extend their League unbeaten run to twelve but can only draw with future Villa boss Steve Bruce's Wigan to remain in fourth place after twenty four games missing the chance to move into second.

Gabriel Agbonlahor makes his 125th appearance in a Villa shirt (116 Starts) to make it W50 D40 L35, 33 Goals, 15 Assists and 10 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Carlos Cuéllar makes his 25th appearance in a Villa shirt (21 Starts) to make it W14 D5 L6 and 3 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa destroy future Villa boss Steve Bruce's Wigan  on their own patch against a side littered with former Birmingham players, to make it five wins in nine Premier League games and 5th in the table.

Gabriel Agbonlahor contributes his 40th goal involvement to secure his 40th win in a Villa shirt on his 107th appearance (99 Starts) to make it W40 D35 L32, 28 Goals, 12 Assists and 9 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Brad Friedel secures his 10th win in a Villa shirt on his 14th appearance to make it W10 D3 L1, 15 Goals Conceded at a rate of 1.07 goals per game and 3 Clean Sheets (21%) so far in his Villa career.

James Milner contributes his 1st assist since his return to the club (10 Appearances) to make it 43 appearances in a Villa shirt (38 Starts), W19 D11 L13, 3 Goals, 10 Assists and 4 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one every 3.31 games played so far in his Villa career however it had proven a slow start to his return with a record of Played 10, 5 Starts, 0 Goals and 1 Assist under Martin O’Neill so far.

Steve Sidwell makes his 3rd appearance in a Villa shirt four months after his 2nd to make it W2 D1 L0 and 1 Goal so far in his Villa career.

Villa suffer a shock defeat to lowly Wigan in the penultimate game of the Premier League season and the final match at Villa Park yet remain in 6th place in the table under Martin O'Neill.

Not for the first time this season Villa unexpectedly lose a game they would have expected to win and as a result, although they remain 6th, they lose ground in the race for European qualification. 

Yet for all the disappointment it just served to underline how far the team had come under Martin O'Neill since Villa's 'difficult' 2002-2006 period. 

Patrik Berger, 34, makes his 33rd and final appearance for Villa (9 Starts) before moving on to Sparta Prague on a free transfer in July 2008. Although Berger joined the Villa at the end of his career in a free transfer from Portsmouth at the age of 31 he proved an excellent resource when called upon but he would go on to blot his copybook when he appeared to encourage Gareth Barry to leave for Liverpool leading to Martin O’Neill immediately ending his Villa career and any chance of a contract extension. Berger left with a record of W10 D9 L13, 2 Goals, 4 Assists and 2 Bookings.

Zat Knight makes his 25th start in a Villa shirt (27 Appearances) to make it W10 D9 L8, 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 1 Booking and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Villa win for the first time in six but are unbeaten in the last four to close out 2007 in seventh with a tilt on the European places in sight.

Villa end a run of three draws with a battling win at Wigan to rise to 7th in the table at the turn of the year. Villa had sat 12th at the same point a year earlier.

Curtis Davies scores his first goal in a Villa shirt on his 5th appearance (2 Starts) to make it W3 D1 L1 and 1 Goal so far in his Villa career.

Ashley Young contributes his 10th assist in a Villa shirt on his 34th appearance (31 Starts) to make it W13 D12 L9, 5 Goals, 10 Assists and 5 Bookings so far in his Villa career. 

Gabriel Agbonlahor secures his 25th win, scores his 18th goal and contributes his 25th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 73rd appearance (66 Starts) to make it W25 D25 L23, 18 Goals, 8 Assists and 6 Bookings so far in his Villa career. 

John Carew secures his 10th win in a Villa shirt on his 26th appearance to make it W10 D9 L7, 7 Goals, 4 Assists and 5 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one every 2.36 games he has played so far in his Villa career. 

Nigel Reo-Coker secures his 10th win in a Villa shirt on his 20th appearance to make it W10 D5 L5, 1 Goal, 2 Assists, 9 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Villa extend their unbeaten run to four Premier League games but are held by Wigan at Villa Park.

Villa make it four games unbeaten - their best run since October - but can only draw at home to relegation threatened Wigan and fall back to 14th in the table as a result.

Gabriel Agbonlahor scores his 10th goal in a Villa shirt on his 46th appearance (39 Starts) to make it W12 D17 L17, 10 Goals, 4 Assists and 2 Bookings.

Villa are held to a goalless draw at Wigan but extend their run under Martin O'Neill to just one defeat in thirteen Premier League games drawing 7 and winning 5 five as  O'Neill takes David O'Leary’s 2005-06 squad, plus Stiliyan Petrov and transforms a squad that had lost 8 of their last 13 games under O’Leary. 

Winger Peter Whittingham, 22, makes his 66th and final appearance (39 Starts) for Villa before moving on to Cardiff City for a fee of £473,000 in January 2007. Whittingham had come through the ranks as a schoolboy and made his debut aged 18 in the final game of the 2002-03 season under Graham Taylor before a 25 game run as a starter under David O’Leary. Inexplicably thereafter O’Leary relegated Whittingham to a substitute role. Following his ‘demotion’ Whittingham scored a single goal in 30 games under O’Leary having contributed 5 goal involvements in his first 22 starts. Whittingham would leave with a record of W26 D18 L22, 2 Goals, 5 Assists and 6 Bookings from his 5 seasons with Villa. Tragically Whittingham died after a fall at the age of 35 in March 2020. 

Winger Didier Agathe, 31, makes his 6th and final appearance for Villa (0 Starts) before moving on to Saint-Pierroise on a free transfer in January 2007. Agathe had joined Villa as a free agent earlier in the 2006-07 season and would leave with a record of W2 D3 L1 across his 6 substitute appearances.

Villa return to losing ways and David O'Leary had now overseen 17 losses in the last 40 games, winning just 9. With a record like that, unsurprisingly, O'Leary swerved the post match interview once again only for his assistant Roy Aitken to take on the mantle of preposterous comment by claiming: “We needed more quality this season. The quality has been short in vital areas - at both ends of the pitch.” Now if only we knew who had been in charge of the club for the last three years. 

Villa lose at high-flying Wigan to leave them with five defeats in their last eight games and just nine wins in thirty five games under David O'Leary.

Right back Ulises de la Cruz, 31, makes his 99th and final appearance in a Villa shirt (74 Starts) as a substitute before moving on to Reading on a free transfer in July 2006. To the shock of nobody de la Cruz was not actually the “Ecuadorian David Beckham” as then manager Graham Taylor had described him on his £2,430,000 signing from Hibs in 2002 and over his 4 seasons with the club, a remarkable length of time, he recorded W36 D25 L38, 2 Goals, 9 Assists and 6 Bookings.

Juan Pablo Ángel makes his 175th appearance in a Villa shirt (134 Starts) to make it W62 D46 L67, 55 Goals, 16 Assists and 11 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 2.46 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Liam Ridgewell contributes his 5th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 66th appearance (51 Starts) to make it W22 D16 L28, 4 Goals, 1 Assist, 7 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Gabriel Agbonlahor contributes his first assist in a Villa shirt on his 6th appearance (2 Starts) to make it W1 D2 L3, 1 Goal and 1 Assist.

Villa lose at home to Wigan to leave David O'Leary with two wins in eleven Premier League games.

Villa lose for the 8th time in 15 Premier League games under David O'Leary. 

Despite just 2 wins in 15, O’Leary's post match comments suggest he has belatedly adopted a more collective approach since recording their second win of the season last time out. Long may it last, but it probably won’t.

Villa record an 8-0 aggregate victory over Wigan in the League Cup as the mercurial Nii Lamptey hits a brace.

Goalkeeper Michael Oakes, 20, makes his debut in a Villa shirt after joining as a trainee and signing professional forms in July 1991 to become the 699th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Nii Lamptey scores a brace on his 4th appearance in a Villa shirt (2 Starts) to make it W2 D0 L2, 3 Goals and 1 Booking at a goal involvement rate of one for every 1.33 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Holders Villa hammer bottom tier side Wigan in the 2nd round of the League Cup.

Midfielder Nii Lamptey, 19, makes a goalscoring debut in a Villa shirt after joining from RSC Anderlecht in August 1994 to become the 698th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football. Lamptey, allegedly unable to read or write, had arrived at Villa through the machinations of an errant agent and as a result a very confusing career began.

Dalian Atkinson contributes his 50th goal involvement on his 99th appearance in a Villa shirt (93 Starts) to make it W45 D29 L25, 31 Goals and 20 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 1.94 games he has played so far in his Villa career. 

Dwight Yorke contributes his first assist in 38 games and secures his 50th win in a Villa shirt on his 118th appearance (81 Starts) and make it W50 D32 L36, 31 Goals, 14 Assists and 2 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 2.62 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Villa face Wigan Athletic for the first time in competitive football, Wigan become the 119th team that the Villa first team has played in League or Cup football.

Ron Saunders' Villa beat fourth division Wigan in the League Cup to make it five games unbeaten and three wins.