Villa make it consecutive Premier League draws to open the season as they sit 14th in the early table under John Gregory.

An injury time own goal by Alpay Özalan costs Villa a first win since 1995 against Manchester United.

Croatian Forward Boško Balaban, 22, makes his debut in a Villa shirt after joining from Dinamo Zagreb for an eye-watering fee of £7,020,000 in July and becomes the 757th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Darius Vassell scores his 10th goal in a Villa shirt on his 64th appearance (12 Starts) to make it W27 D14 L23, 10 Goals, 4 Assists, 7 Bookings and 1 Red Card at a goal involvement rate of one for every 4.57 games played so far in his Villa career.

Villa extend their unbeaten run to 4 games under John Gregory but can only draw to fall back to 10th in the early Premier League table.

Paul Merson makes his 125th appearance in a Villa shirt (110 Starts) to make it W48 D40 L37, 17 Goals, 20 Assists, 7 Bookings and 1 Red Card at a goal involvement rate of one for every 3.38 games played so far in his Villa career.

Villa make it five 5 unbeaten in the League under John Gregory as they record their second win to climb to sixth in the early table.

Mustapha Hadji scores his 1st goal in a Villa shirt on his 9th appearance (3 Starts) to make it W4 D3 L2 and 1 Goals so far in his Villa career.

Dion Dublin contributes his 50th goal involvement in a Villa shirt before being sent off on his 105th appearance (95 Starts) to make it W40 D32 L33, 37 Goals, 13 Assists, 8 Bookings and 1 Red Card at a goal involvement rate of one for every 2.10 games played so far in his Villa career.

Hassan Kachloul makes his 10th start in a Villa shirt (11 Appearances) to make it W5 D4 L2, 2 Assists and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Despite Mustapha Hadji's injury time winner Villa are knocked out of the UEFA Cup on the away goals rule.

Mustapha Hadji makes his 10th appearance in a Villa shirt (4 Starts) to make it W5 D3 L2 and 2 Goals so far in his Villa career.

Dion Dublin scores on the stroke of half time to send Villa through to the 4th Round of the League Cup.

George Boateng makes his 100th appearance in a Villa shirt (93 Starts) to make it W43 D31 L26, 5 Goals and 25 Bookings at a rate of a card every 4.00 games so far in his Villa career.

Lee Hendrie secures his 70th win in a Villa shirt on his 160th appearance (121 Starts) to make it W70 D43 L47, 19 Goals, 17 Assists, 29 Bookings and 3 Red Cards at a goal involvement rate of one for every 4.57 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Mark Delaney secures his 30th win in a Villa shirt on his 74th appearance (58 Starts) to make it W30 D23 L21, 1 Goal, 2 Assists, 9 Bookings and 2 Red Cards so far in his Villa career.

Villa win a 3rd consecutive Premier League game to extend their unbeaten run to 7 top flight matches under John Gregor to remain 4th in the early table.

Alan Wright makes his 300th appearance in a Villa shirt (296 Starts) to make it W132 D80 L88, 5 Goals, 24 Assists and 21 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Mustapha Hadji contributes his 1st assist in a Villa shirt on his 13th appearance (7 Starts) to make it W8 D3 L2, 2 Goals, 1 Assist and 3 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 4.33 games played so far in his Villa career.

Darius Vassell secures his 30th win in a Villa shirt on his 69th appearance (17 Starts) to make it W30 D15 L24, 13 Goals, 4 Assists, 8 Bookings and 1 Red Card at a goal involvement rate of one for every 4.06 games played so far in his Villa career.

Juan Pablo Ángel secures his 10th win in a Villa shirt on his 16th start (20 Appearances) to make it W10 D4 L6, 7 Goals, 2 Assists and 2 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 1.77 starts so far in his Villa career and making a mockery of those who had rendered him a failure after a 7 game goalless spell following his arrival in January 2001.Villa win a 3rd consecutive Premier League game to extend their unbeaten run to 7 top flight matches under John Gregory.

John Gregory weakens his team too much to allow second tier side Wednesday to win at Villa Park and knock Villa out of the League Cup.

Villa fail to score for the 3rd time in 4 games under John Gregory as they're knocked out of the League Cup by first division Wednesday.

Olof Mellberg makes his 10th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W3 D5 L2, 1 Assist and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Lee Hendrie suffers his 50th defeat in a Villa shirt on his 168th appearance (129 Starts) to make it W73 D45 L50, 19 Goals, 17 Assists, 30 Bookings and 3 Red Cards so far in his Villa career.

Villa's strange couple of months continues as they lose for the fourth time in eight Premier League games since taking top spot in late October to sit 8th in the table under John Gregory.

Despite Juan Pablo Ángel's third goal in two games Villa make it just one victory under John Gregory in the last 7.

To make matters more painful it is a malcontent from a previous season who does the damage but fair play to Benito Carbone who declines to celebrate after belatedly realising what he is missing.

Peter Schmeichel concedes 3 goals for the 4th time this season on his 22nd appearance to make it W11 D5 L6, 1 Goal, 23 Goals Conceded at a rate of 1.05 goals per game and 9 Clean Sheets (41%) so far in his Villa career.

Dion Dublin makes his 100th start in a Villa shirt (119 Appearances) to make it W46 D34 L39, 39 Goals, 15 Assists, 9 Bookings and 1 Red Card at a goal involvement rate of one for every 2.20 games played so far in his Villa career.

Juan Pablo Ángel contributes his 15th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 24th start (28 Appearances) to make it W12 D6 L10, 12 Goals, 3 Assists and 2 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 1.60 starts so far in his Villa career. 

Jlloyd Samuel makes his 25th appearance in a Villa shirt (13 Starts) to make it W10 D7 L8, 1 Assist and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa, with one win in six since John Gregory's departure, are humiliated by relegation threatened Blackburn at Ewood Park yet manager Graham Taylor appears worryingly detached and unbothered.

Villa lose for the 2nd time in 4 games under Graham Taylor as the reality of his rushed appointment was brought to bear not only by his results but also by his worryingly passive post match comments after defeat to a side firmly mired in the relegation places. 

Peter Schmeichel concedes 3 goals for the 6th time this season on his 37th appearance and is now without a clean sheet in 14 games to make it W14 D7 L10, 1 Goal, 37 Goals Conceded at a rate of 1.19 goals per game and 9 Clean Sheets (29%) so far in his Villa career.

Jlloyd Samuel makes his 25th start in a Villa shirt (37 Appearances) to make it W13 D12 L12, 3 Assists and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa put in an improved performance under Graham Taylor but their run extends to one win in ten Premier League games since John Gregory's departure.

Peter Crouch scores his 1st goal in a Villa shirt on his 2nd appearance to make it W0 D1 L1 and 1 Goal so far in his Villa career.

Boško Balaban makes his 10th appearance in a Villa shirt (2 Starts) to make it W4 D3 L3, 0 Goals and 0 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa now have 1 win in 11 games under Graham Taylor. 

Villa stop their run of defeats with a draw at already relegated Leicester City.

Meanwhile the career of one of the strangest signings in Villa's history came to an end. Bert Kingaby (1905-06) and Gary Penrice (1991-92) had been odd signings but Boško Balaban took this to another level. What made the Balaban case more concerning than curious were allegations about fees and funds not tying up and claims of mystery beneficiaries of a transfer that was as ill-suited as it was overpriced. Three signings of this ilk in 115 years was probably not bad going but in a surprising turn of events they became a far more regular occurrence over the following decade. Graham Taylor and his successors David O'Leary, Martin O'Neill and Paul Lambert all made signings - some more than once - who rivalled Balaban in mystifying observers and who were clearly out of their depth in the top flight. Over the following decade Michael Boulding (Taylor), Eric Djemba Djemba (O'Leary), Moustapha Salifou and Habib Beye (O'Neill) and Joe Bennett and Jordan Bowery (Lambert) confounded the footballing world and led many to question the judgement of successive Villa bosses.

Boško Balaban makes his 11th and final appearance in a Villa shirt (2 Starts) to make it W4 D4 L3, 0 Goals and 0 Assists across his 8 months in and around the first team.

Thomas Hitzlsperger scores his 1st goal in a Villa shirt on his 11th appearance (9 Starts) to make it W1 D3 L7, 2 Goals and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Darius Vassell contributes his 25th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 99th appearance (40 Starts) to make it W36 D26 L37, 18 Goals, 7 Assists, 11 Bookings and 1 Red Card at a goal involvement rate of one for every 3.96 games played so far in his Villa career.