Villa draw for the fourth time in five winless games as they need a dramatic late goal for the third time this season to rescue a result.

Villa’s latest draw is rescued with a stoppage time strike from Conor Hourihane - a player who couldn’t buy a league start under Steve Bruce. 

Ritchie De Laet becomes the latest first team player to be sent out on loan by Steve Bruce joining Jed Steer, André Green and Tommy Elphick unavailable for selection. 

Centre forward Tammy Abraham makes his Villa debut aged 20 after joining on a season long loan from Chelsea to become the 923rd player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Winger Yannick Bolasie makes his Villa debut aged 29 as a 77’ substitute after joining on a season long loan from Everton to become the 924th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Alan Hutton makes his 175th appearance in a Villa shirt (161 Starts) to make it W51 D43 L81, 2 Goals, 7 Assists, 36 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Neil Taylor makes his 50th appearance in a Villa shirt (46 Starts) to make it W24 D12 L14, 1 Assist, 5 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Villa climb 6 places in the table as they win for the first time in six Championship games and for the first time since hitting an injury time winner in the second game of the season. 

The reaction from Steve Bruce to the win against a side who would be relegated at the season end simply underlined the concern that the Villa boss was no longer thinking clearly or objectively in his role.

Tammy Abraham scores his first goal and collects his first caution in a Villa shirt on his second appearance to make it W1 D1 L0, 1 Goal and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Yannick Bolasie scores his first goal in a Villa shirt on his second appearance (0 Starts) to make it W1 D1 L0 and 1 Goal so far in his Villa career.

Ørjan Nyland keeps his 1st clean sheet on his 7th appearance to make it W2 D4 L1, 11 Goals Conceded and 1 Clean Sheet so far in his Villa career.

Jonathan Kodjia contributes his 6th Assist in a Villa shirt on his 63rd appearance (52 Starts) to make it W27 D19 L17, 23 Goals, 6 Assists, 9 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Villa lose for the second time in four to leave them with one win in seven as the increasingly erratic Steve Bruce lives on borrowed time.

Four days after saying “with all the nonsense that’s been written, I’m pleased. We’ve won a game, we are in the top six" Steve Bruce sees his Villa side defeated at home by Sheffield Wednesday and languishing in 13th place. 

Once again Steve Bruce unhelpfully chooses to make it all about himself and showed no sign or inclination to address the core issues of his tactics and team selection. 

John McGinn scored his first for Villa on his 8th appearance - a truly great Villa Park goal cementing his already legendary status with a strike for the ages on 53’. 

Jack Grealish makes his 75th start in a Villa shirt (120 Appearances) to make it W42 D25 L53, 9 Goals, 14 Assists, 19 Bookings and 2 Red Cards so far in his Villa career.

Former Villa midfielder Barry Bannan lined up for Sheffield Wednesday.

Villa draw for the fifth time in ten Championship matches and now have just one win in eight as Steve Bruce's grip on reality becomes increasingly tenuous and increasingly hard to watch.

Villa climb to 11th after yet another draw - their 5th in 10 league games - and it already looks like automatic promotion is beyond them for the third successive season. 

Once again rather than addressing the reasons and planning the response, Steve Bruce chooses to bring the focus onto himself in his now familiarly self obsessed way of thinking which to most observers can only seem to be a contributing factor in Villa’s failure to learn from their mistakes. 

Conor Hourihane makes his 75th appearance in a Villa shirt (64 Starts) to make it W35 D16 L24, 14 Goals, 8 Assists and 14 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Jonathan Kodjia collects his 10th booking in a Villa shirt on his 65th appearance (54 Starts) to make it W27 D20 L18, 23 Goals, 6 Assists, 10 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Former Villa centre back Nathan Baker and former Villa forward Andreas Weimann lined up for Bristol City.

Villa need an injury time goal for the fourth time this season to rescue a result but now have just one win in nine as madness descends at Villa Park and Steve Bruce departs.

Bruce had led Villa for 102 games, finished 13th and 4th in the EFL Championship table and been Championship Play Off Runners Up in 2017-18. 

Having 4 games earlier said “I’ve always wanted to play two up top and for some reason here, it hasn’t really happened. We’ve got the personnel to do it, you’ve seen that tonight, those two [Abraham and Kodjia] will be a threat for anybody.” Steve Bruce elected to take both his centre forwards off by the 74’ with Villa leading 2-1. 

Preston soon capitalised and within 12 minutes had opened up a 3-2 lead. With both his penalty takers off the field it was left to Glenn Whelan to take the 97’ spot kick awarded for a foul on Birkir Bjarnason. Whelan (73 appearances, 2 goals) missed. 

James Chester is sent off on his 107th appearance to make it W45 D32 L30, 7 Goals, 1 Assist, 13 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Birkir Bjarnason makes his 25th start in a Villa shirt (43 Appearances) to make it W23 D8 L12, 6 Goals, 3 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Goalkeeper Mark Bunn makes his 21st and final appearance for Villa (20 Starts) aged 33 before being released by the club in July 2019. On his return to the side for the first time in six months Bunn conceded 3 goals in a game with regular ‘keeper Ørjan Nyland on the bench. Nyland had conceded 14 goals in 13 games so far this season at a rate of 1.08 goals per game. It was these sort of decisions and the self absorbing commentary from him that ultimately cost Steve Bruce his job. Bunn left the club with a record of W5 D7 L9, 36 Goals Conceded, 5 Clean Sheets and 5 Bookings.

Jack Grealish collects his 20th booking in a Villa shirt on his 122nd Appearances (77 Starts) to make it W42 D27 L53, 9 Goals, 14 Assists, 20 Bookings and 2 Red Cards so far in his Villa career.

Steve Bruce is sacked by Villa following the Preston draw as his reign comes to a pitiful and humiliating end involving a red face and a cabbage. Bruce had steadied the ship after five years of rapid decline under Houllier, McLeish, Lambert, Sherwood, Garde and Di Matteo and would take Villa within 90 minutes of promotion in 2017-18 whilst navigating a financial crisis. Despite that, his time at Villa would fall apart in 2018 and he would leave with a decent second tier record of 102 Games W46 D25 L31 at a rate of 1.60 points per game.

Villa, with the hapless Kevin MacDonald in charge as interim boss, lose at Millwall to leave them with a solitary win in ten Championship matches. 

Caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald takes charge of Villa for the third time following the departure of Martin O'Neill in 2010-11, Tim Sherwood in 2015-16 and now Steve Bruce in 2018-19.

A rapturous welcome greets new boss and Villa boy Dean Smith as his new side win for only the second time in eleven in his first game in charge.

John McGinn receives his fifth booking in his first 12 games for the club.

Ahmed Elmohamady makes his 50th start for Villa (58 Appearances) to make it W28 D16 L14, 2 Goals, 9 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Off the pitch it is announced that former chairman Herbert Douglas Ellis had passed away aged 94.

Villa lose successive games for the first time this season as Dean Smith realises the task ahead.

Alan Hutton suffers his 85th defeat in a Villa shirt on his 183rd appearance (169 Starts) to make it W53 D45 L85, 2 Goals, 7 Assists, 37 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Neil Taylor makes his 50th start in a Villa shirt (54 Starts) to make it W25 D12 L17, 1 Assist, 6 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Villa bounce back from successive defeats to make it two wins in four under Dean Smith having previously managed one in ten before his arrival.

Villa score early to set up a much needed win and climb to 13th in the table in Dean Smith's 4th game in charge, W2 L2

James Chester scores his 10th goal in a Villa shirt on his 111th appearance to make it W47 D32 L21, 10 Goals, 1 Assist, 13 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Tammy Abraham contributes his first assist in a Villa shirt on his 10th appearance to make it W3 D3 L4, 4 Goals, 1 Assist and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Villa produce a stunning footballing performance to comprehensively beat Derby at Pride Park as Dean Smith makes it successive wins and his third victory in five with real signs his football philosophy is taking hold in B6.

Conor Hourihane scores his 15th goal and contributes his 25 goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 81st appearance (69 Starts) to make it W38 D17 L26, 15 Goals, 10 Assists and 14 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Tammy Abraham scores his fifth goal in a Villa shirt on his 11th appearance to make it W4 D3 L4, 4 Goals, 1 Assist and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Yannick Bolasie contributes his first assist in a Villa shirt on his 10th appearance (0 Starts) to make it W4 D3 L3, 2 Goals, 1 Assist and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa make it three consecutive victories as the team with four names are dispatched at Villa Park.

Villa extend their unbeaten League run against Birmingham to 13 games to make it 16 wins and 6 draws in their last 27 meetings with their neighbours dating back to 1987.

Villa are now unbeaten in the League against their neighbours for 14 seasons

Albert Adomah makes his 100th appearance in a Villa shirt (82 Starts) to make it W47 D24 L29, 18 Goals, 18 Assists and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Jonathan Kodjia scores his 25th goal in a Villa shirt on his 73rd appearance (59 Starts) to make it W31 D21 L21, 25 Goals, 6 Assists, 10 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Ahmed Elmohamady secures his 30th win in a Villa shirt on his 62nd appearance (52 Starts) to make it W30 D16 L16, 2 Goals, 9 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Ørjan Nyland concedes his 20th goal on his 16th appearance to make it W6 D5 L5, 21 Goals Conceded and 4 Clean Sheets so far in his Villa career.

Rampant Villa are held in a remarkable game at Villa Park as Dean Smith's appointment looks the masterstroke everybody had hoped for.

Tammy Abraham scores his tenth goal in a Villa shirt on his 13th appearance to make it W5 D4 L4, 10 Goals, 1 Assist and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Tammy Abraham became the first Villa player to score 4 goals in a game since David Platt against Ipswich Town on Wednesday, 30 November 1988 and the first in the League since Tony Hateley against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, 19 March 1966. 

Former Villa centre forward Lewis Grabban scores a double whilst future Villa right back Matty Cash lined up for Forest.

Villa win again, their fourth victory in five unbeaten games as they make it seventeen goals in their last five.

Although Dean Smith has Villa purring, because of Villa’s poor start to the campaign under Steve Bruce they remain un 8th place outside the play-off places and well short of the top two automatic promotion spots. Bur Dean Smith has now delivered 5 wins in 8 league games scoring 18 goals compared to Steve Bruce’s record of 1 win in the 8 league games.

James Chester secures his 50th win in a Villa shirt on his 115th appearance to make it W50 D33 L32, 11 Goals, 1 Assist, 13 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Conor Hourihane secures his 40th win in a Villa shirt (84 Appearances, 72 Starts) to make it W40 D18 L26, 15 Goals, 11 Assists and 14 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Jonathan Kodjia makes his 75th appearance in a Villa shirt (60 Starts) to make it W32 D22 L21, 25 Goals, 6 Assists, 10 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Glenn Whelan secures his 25th win in a Villa shirt on his 46th appearance (36 Starts) to make it W25 D12 L9, 2 Goals, 2 Assists and 5 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Ørjan Nyland keeps his 5th clean sheet on his 18th appearance to make it W7 D6 L5, 26 Goals Conceded and 5 Clean Sheets so far in his Villa career.

Rodriguez does as Rodriguez is as he cheats an undeserved stoppage time equaliser to prevent Villa winning for the fifth time in six under Dean Smith. 

Axel Tuanzebe makes his 25th appearance for the club (24 Starts) to make it W9 D10 L6 so far in his Villa career.

Villa are held to a second successive draw in difficult conditions against a difficult opposition to remain outside the play-off places and in 8th in the table despite being unbeaten in 7 under Dean Smith.

Alan Hutton makes his 175th start in a Villa shirt (189 Appearances) to make it W56 D48 L85, 3 Goals, 7 Assists, 39 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Axel Tuanzebe makes his 25th start for the club (26 Appearances) to make it W9 D11 L6 so far in his Villa career.

Anwar El Ghazi makes his tenth appearance for Villa (7 Starts) to make it W2 D4 L4, 4 Goals, 1 Assist and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Ørjan Nyland concedes his 30th goal on his 20th appearance for Villa to make it W7 D8 L5, 30 Goals Conceded and 5 Clean Sheets so far in his Villa career.

Off the pitch former Villa midfielder Gareth Farrelly reveals dark times in the Villa youth set up under three time caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald which leads to the coach being removed from player facing duties and subject to a formal investigation.

Villa race to a two goal lead but are beaten by lucky Leeds in stoppage time and "From their celebrations, I thought they'd actually won the title."

Conor Hourihane makes his 75th start in a Villa shirt (87 Appearances) to make it W40 D20 L27, 16 Goals, 11 Assists and 14 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa win for the first time in four but now have just one defeat in nine under Dean Smith.

Glenn Whelan makes his 50th appearance in a Villa shirt (39 Starts) to make it W26 D14 L10, 2 Goals, 2 Assists and 7 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Birkir Bjarnason secures his 25th win in a Villa shirt on his 48th appearance (28 Starts) to make it W25 D8 L15, 6 Goals, 3 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

James Bree secures his 10th win in a Villa shirt on his 24th appearance (17 Starts) to make it W10 D5 L9, 0 Goals, 0 Assists and 0 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa are held at Deepdale but now have just one defeat in ten under Dean Smith as they end 2018 in highly satisfactory fashion after a difficult start to the season under Steve Bruce.

Alan Hutton collects his 40th booking in a Villa shirt on his 192nd appearance (178 Starts) to make it W57 D49 L86, 3 Goals, 8 Assists, 40 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Despite Tammy Abraham's 14th goal of the season Villa can only draw with Preston and finish the year in 9th place. Dean Smith's 2018 with Villa read P13 W6 D4 L3 compared to his predecessors' P13 W4 D5 L4.