The stats behind Aston Villa’s frustrating season so far

Aston Villa played out a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest on Monday night and they currently sit 16th in the Premier League.

We’ve looked into their stats so far this season to pinpoint where they have been going wrong. 

How last season went for Villa 

Dean Smith lost his job as the Villa manager after an inconsistent start to the 2021/22 campaign. 

He was sacked on the 7th of November, with Villa sat 16th in the Premier League table. 

During the first 11 matches of the season, they had averaged 0.9 points per game. If they carried on with that trajectory, they would have finished the season with 34 points and been relegated. 

When Smith lost his job, Villa were on a five game losing streak and there was the feeling around the club that something needed to change. 

Steven Gerrard was appointed as his successor and he had an instant impact at the club. 

The former Rangers manager won four of his first six games in charge of Villa and they quickly rose up the league. 

The highest Villa found themselves under Gerrard was ninth place in gameweek 27 and they looked on course for a strong finish to the season. 

After an initial promising run of form, Villa faded towards the end of the season as they only won two of their last 12 matches of the season. 

Under Gerrard last season Villa averaged 1.29 points per game, which was an improvement from the 0.9 they were averaging under Smith. 

If Gerrard had been in charge for the entire season and averaged that points tally, Villa would have finished the season on 49 points and would have finished in 11th place. 

Villa didn’t have many problems with hitting the back of the net last season as they were the highest-scoring team in the bottom half of the table. 

They averaged 1.36 goals per game and scored a total of 52 goals. 

Gerrard’s side did have issues when it came to keeping things tight at the back though. In total, they conceded 54 goals, at an average of 1.42 goals conceded per game. 

Villa’s summer transfer window 

The expectations have always been fairly high at Aston Villa due to the money that has been invested into this current side. 

In the most recent summer transfer window, they spent over £63million in a bid to take the squad to the next level. 

Diego Carlos was signed as Villa’s biggest star this summer for a fee of around £28million and was signed in a bid to make Gerrard’s side stronger at the back. Unfortunately, the Brazilian defender has since picked up a long-term injury and will miss a large chunk of the season. 

The likes of Boubacar Kamara, Leander Dendoncker and Jan Bednarek were also signed by the club this summer. 

This season for Villa 

The frustration around Villa this season has been obvious to see. At the start of the season, it was hoped that they would push for a top half finish, but they currently find themselves 16th in the table. 

Gerrard’s side have only won two of their opening nine matches and have averaged one point per game so far this season. 

The biggest problem they have ran into this year has been consistently finding the back of the net. 

They have averaged 0.77 goals per game and are projected to score just 29.55 goals this season, which is significantly less than they did last season. 

Villa are now unbeaten across their last four matches, but three of those four matches have ended as draws. 

As things stand, no Aston Villa player has scored more than one league goal this season and that has been the biggest problem facing Gerrard. 

Given their lacklustre start so far, Gerrard will need to turn the tide pretty quickly to go ahead and ease the pressure currently on his shoulders.