Villa's dreadful season on and off the pitch continues as unsavoury and compromising information leaks out about the dysfunctional Lambert regime with new light shined on the real, entirely self interested, reasons for the hated manager's questionable decisions. On the pitch Villa fail to win at home for the thirteenth time in eighteen and fail to score for the fifteenth time in thirty seven games.

Villa fail to score for the 14th time in 34 games under Paul Lambert.

Villa fail to win at home for the 13th time in 18 matches under Paul Lambert. 

Villa sit 15th, five points clear of the drop zone with four to play. 

In more evidence that the club was not in good hands, Lambert’s assistants were suspended pending an investigation into allegations of bullying and aggressive off-and on-field behaviour. 

Lambert was praised by the absent Chairman Randy Lerner for his “total loyalty” in the aftermath of the eventual suspension and dismissal of Ian Culverhouse and Gary Karsa. It was alleged that a series of players had been upset by the actions of the assistants during the season and despite raising the issues with Lambert they went unresolved. 

A further claim was made that, those same players, in protest at their treatment, had  feigned injury or illness to miss matche, perhaps explaining the often bizarre trends of player unavailability through the season to date. 

In another self-defeating move of breathtaking stupidity, it was also revealed that Lambert and his team, because of poor personal relationships, had deliberately rendered some fully fit players unavailable in crucial fixtures that Villa had gone on to lose including the damaging 2-1 defeat to Fulham. 

In a move packed with supreme irony, Lambert promoted Shay Given to assistant duties. At the start of the campaign, Lambert had placed Given in the infamous 'bomb squad' of first team players not to be considered for duty. 

Callum Robinson makes his 2nd appearance in a Villa shirt (0 Starts) 7 months after his debut to make it W0 D1 L1, 0 Goals, 0 Assists so far in his Villa career.