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 lose for the first time in four Premier League games but now have just five wins in nineteen under Gérard Houllier as the gap to the drop zone closes to five points.

Brad Friedel concedes his 150th goal in a Villa shirt on his 117th appearance to make it W51 D34 L32, 152 Goals Conceded at a rate of 1.30 goals per game, 34 Clean Sheets (29%), 2 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career. A year previously, under Martin O’Neill, Friedel had made 70 Appearances, conceded 74 goals at a rate of 1.06 goals per game and kept 25 clean sheets (36%). The downturn post O’Neill was stark with 24 Appearances so far under Houllier, 29 conceded at 1.21 goals per game and just 3 clean sheets (12.5%).

Villa are held at home by Fulham to leave them with just five wins in twenty Premier League games under Gérard Houllier.

Stephen Ireland makes his 14th appearance in a Villa shirt (9 Starts) having contributed precisely nothing over the period save for 1 booking. Patience is already worn out. Ireland's record stands at W2 D4 L8, 0 Goals, 0 Assists and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career and he is shipped out to Newcastle on loan just 6 months after his regretted arrival at the club.

Jean Makoun collects his 2nd booking on his 3rd appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W1 D1 L1 and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa are held for the second successive game and drop back to fifteenth in the table, three points clear of the relegation zone with five wins in twenty one Premier League games under Gérard Houllier.

Villa make it 1 defeat in 8 League and Cup games under Gérard Houllier.

Michael Bradley makes his debut in a Villa shirt after joining on loan to the end of the season from Mönchengladbach to become the 835th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Carlos Cuéllar makes his 100th appearance in a Villa shirt (95 Starts) to make it W50 D26 L24, 3 Goals, 4 Assists, 14 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Darren Bent contributes his 1st assist in a Villa shirt on his 4th appearance to make it W2 D1 L1, 2 Goals and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Jean Makoun is sent off on his 4th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W1 D2 L1, 2 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Villa slump to defeat against Wolves and now are just one point clear of the drop zone to leave them with just six wins in twenty four Premier League games under Gérard Houllier.

Gérard Houllier's woeful reign continued as he presides over Villa's first loss to second from bottom Wolves at Villa Park in 31 years to leave Villa just one point above the relegation places. 

Even in the darkest days of David O'Leary and the insipid return of Graham Taylor, Villa had never reached the levels of abject failure that Houllier had delivered. 

Of course a more competent Villa hierarchy would have dismissed Houllier before the turn of the year - or preferably never been so foolish as to appoint him - but with their misguided pride clearly of greater importance to them than competency, Houllier was allowed to continue his destruction of Villa that precipitated a half decade of failure.

Nigel Reo-Coker makes his 100th start in a Villa shirt (116 Appearances) to make it W52 D30 L34, 3 Goals, 5 Assists, 22 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Marc Albrighton makes his 25th start in a Villa shirt (37 Appearances) to make it W14 D8 L15, 6 Goals, 7 Assists, 4 Bookings and 1 Red Card.

Villa are without the suspended duo James Collins and Richard Dunne who were also fined for a drunken fracas during a player bonding break with staff members left behind by Houllier and McAllister. The staff members avoided censure.

Villa draw at Goodison to open the gap to the relegation places to two points but now have just five wins in twenty five Premier League games under Gérard Houllier.

A team that had finished 6th for the last 3 seasons sits 16th in the table, two points above relegation with seven games to play as the appointment of Gérard Houllier continues to play out in the worst way possible.

Darren Bent's point earning goals were welcome but the thought of what Martin O'Neill could have done with £25m - to both protect and improve his 2009-10 squad - rankles deeply as the unrest against the Villa hierarchy builds

Darren Bent scores his 5th goal in a Villa shirt on his 8th appearance to make it W3 D2 L3, 5 Goals and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Jean Makoun collects his 4th card on his 6th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W1 D3 L2, 3 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Villa open up a five point gap to the relegation places as they win for only the seventh time in twenty six Premier League games under Gérard Houllier.

James Collins scores his 5th goal in a Villa shirt on his 68th appearance (63 Starts) to make it W27 D23 L18, 5 Goals and 12 Bookings. It is Collins' Collins's first appearance at Villa Park since his part in a drunken row at a health spa last month that caused him to be fined two weeks' wages along with defensive partner Richard Dunne.

Ashley Young contributes his 60th assist for the club on his 184th appearance (180 Starts) to make it W79 D55 L50, 37 Goals, 60 Assists, 33 Bookings and 2 Red Cards.

Brad Friedel makes his 125th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W53 D37 L35, 125 Goals Conceded at a rate of 1.30 goals per game, 35 Clean Sheets (28%), 2 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career. A year previously, under Martin O’Neill, Friedel had made 84 Appearances, conceded 100 goals at a rate of 1.19 goals per game and kept 27 clean sheets (32%). The downturn post O’Neill was stark with 32 Appearances so far under Houllier, 50 conceded at 1.56 goals per game and just 4 clean sheets (12.5%).

A second string Villa side toils to an uninspired victory at home to League Two Hereford in the second round of the League Cup as Alex McLeish already faces loud demands to up the attacking tempo of his teams.

Eric Lichaj scores his first goal in a Villa shirt on his 9th appearance (7 Starts) to make it W5 D2 L2, 1 Goal and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Andreas Weimann makes his first appearance for a year due to injury to make it 3 substitute appearances, W2 D1 L0 and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Chris Herd makes his first appearance for five months and first under Alex McLeish to make it 8 appearances in a Villa shirt (3 Starts), W3 D1 L4 so far in his Villa career.

Midfielder Jean Makoun plays first game in 4 months and first under Alex McLeish in what is his 8th and final appearance for Villa aged 28 before moving on to Stade Rennais for a fee of £2,700,000 in July 2013. Former manager Gérard Houllier had brought Makoun to the club just 7 months before his final game spending £5,580,000 on the player who frankly looked completely out of his depth in English football regardless of the standard of opposition, and whose sole contribution was the regularity with which he accumulated cards. Makoun would leave with a record of W3 D3 L2, 3 Bookings and 1 Red Card.

Right back Habib Bèye, makes his first appearance in 13 months, his first under Alex McLeish and his final in a Villa shirt. Bèye, who was an eyebrow raising signing under Martin O'Neill had looked well below the necessary standard before being placed on Gérard Houllier's infamous 'bomb squad' of first team players not to be considered for duty during 2010-11. Bèye, 34, was released by Villa before subsequently joining Doncaster Rovers with whom he had spent a loan spell. Bèye had been bought by Martin O’Neill for £2,610,000 in 2009. Bèye left with a record of W8 D3 L7, 1 Assist, 3 Bookings and 1 Red Card across his 3 seasons with the club and, despite having spent previous seasons in English football with Newcastle, never looked of sufficient standard to play in the top flight.

Marc Albrighton contributes his 15th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 26th start (44 Appearances) to make it W17 D11 L16, 6 Goals, 9 Assists, 4 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Stephen Ireland makes his 15th appearance in a Villa shirt (10 Starts) and first under Alex McLeish having failed in his loan spell at Newcastle (where he was shipped just 6 months after his regretted arrival at the club) and even against League Two Hereford contributed precisely nothing, just as he had done throughout his 12 months with Villa. Ireland's record stands at W3 D4 L8, 0 Goals, 0 Assists and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.