David James gifts the points to Chelsea to leave Villa with Boxing Day and New Year defeats as they tumble back to eleventh in the Premier League table.

David James makes another mistake against Chelsea and Villa have now lost their last three games against the West London side.

Left back Steve Staunton makes his first appearance in a Villa shirt following his return from Liverpool on a free transfer. Staunton, the 670th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football, had left in 1998 with a record of 261 Appearances (253 Starts), W112 D70 L79, 19 Goals, 30 Assists, 16 Bookings and 1 Red Card having run down his contract to secure a lucrative transfer away.

Forward Gilles De Bilde, 29, makes his 4th final appearance in a Villa shirt before returning to Sheffield Wednesday after his 3 month loan ended. De Bilde left with a record of W2 D0 L2, 0 Goals and 0 Assists.

Midfielder John McGrath, 20, makes his debut in a Villa shirt after signing professional forms with the club in August 1999 having joined the youth set up from Belvedere FC to become the 750th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Villa are hammered at Villa Park to make it three consecutive Premier League defeats to Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool to fall to 13th in the Premier League.

Villa lose 3rd Premier League game in a row under John Gregory.

Midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger, 18, makes his debut in a Villa shirt after his promotion from the youth set up following his move from FC Bayern in July 2000 to become the 751st player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Dion Dublin makes his 75th start in a Villa shirt (80 Appearances) to make it W29 D24 L27, 32 Goals, 9 Assists and 5 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 1.95 games played so far in his Villa career.

Meanwhile, David James and Alpay Özalan do their best however to drag the reputation of the squad deeper into the mire.

Villa stop a run of five consecutive defeats against top six opposition to beat lowly Bradford convincingly but twelfth in the table is as good as it gets for John Gregory.

Villa win for the 1st time in 6 League games under John Gregory.

Midfielder John McGrath, 20, makes his 3rd and final appearance in a Villa shirt before moving on to Doncaster Rovers on a free transfer in June 2003. McGrath left with a record of W1 D0 L2 with all his appearances coming in the 2000-01 season.

George Boateng makes his 75th appearance in a Villa shirt (69 Starts) to make it W31 D23 L21, 4 Goals and 19 Bookings at a rate of a card every 3.95 games so far in his Villa career.

Darius Vassell scores a brace to collect his 5th goal in a Villa shirt and his 3rd in 5 games on his 48th appearance (5 Starts) to make it W22 D6 L20, 5 Goals, 4 Assists, 6 Bookings and 1 Red Card at a goal involvement rate of one for every 5.33 games played so far in his Villa career.

Juan Pablo Ángel contributes his 1st assist in a Villa shirt on his 4th appearance to make it W1 D0 L3 and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.