Premier League: Lambert can still make Villa as safe as houses

Paul Lambert is a man under pressure

Despite a woeful festive run, Aston Villa can look forward to some promise of some New Year's returns, says Romilly Evans...

Red-top headline writers never need much pun-based inspiration around Christmas time. But Aston Villa's recent travails have been manna from heaven. From "Glad Hidings" to "Pantomime Villans", Villa are the gift that keeps on giving. Quite literally too, when it comes to their opposition: three straight defeats over the festive period, 15 goals conceded and none scored.

Small wonder, then, that manager Paul Lambert is looking like a forlorn child rummaging around a crowded Christmas tree, desperately trying to uncover one present addressed to him. He's come up empty-handed so far. Which you might've expected after fixtures against two Top Four sides (8-0 to Chelsea and 4-0 to Tottenham).

However, Saturday's 3-0 hammering at the feet of fellow strugglers, Wigan, was an unacceptable nadir. Not only did it arrive at home but it also comprehensively crystallised all the defensive frailties which have consigned the Claret and Blues to the murky depths of another relegation battle.

Owner Randy Lerner even popped in for his seasonal visit to Villa Park. Most institutions can wing it when the chairman stops by for an annual review. Take him out for a long lunch, sweep the dirt under the rug and give Dave, that liability from Marketing, the day off.

Instead, Lerner more closely resembled a health and safety inspector paying an impromptu visit to Fawlty Towers, only to find Manuel as his Maitre D'. Still, at least Manuel hailed from Barcelona. Lerner and Lambert must be wishing some of their own players did.

So when you lift the lid on the Villa cloche, what rats have been gnawing at the green shoots of recovery? Well, in fairness to Lambert, the problem is more to do with the players he's missing than those he has available.

Talented as they may be, the side which took the field at the weekend sported an average age of 23. Without experience and leadership marshalling their ranks, any early strike was going to dent the combined confidence of a team still reeling from that Cheslea-Spurs one-two. And so it proved, with Ivan Ramis stealing in unmarked for Wigan's first goal after just three minutes.

Surely such porous holes at the back would've been plugged by absent captain Ron Vlaar and Irish rock, Richard Dunne? Both men are still on the treatment table, alongside Charles N'Zogbia, Darren Bent and Gabby Agbonlahor, whose returns will also swell Villa's offensive options. Their forward line flickered sporadically in Saturday's first half, but was snuffed out by the time Arouna Kone had bagged Wigan's third with over half an hour remaining. Two shots on target will never cut it at this level and many Villa fans agreed, leaving their seats early having seen enough.

Only a week earlier, some of those same supporters were chanting Lambert's name in loyal encouragement. And it is worth remembering that their immediate future looked a good deal rosier when Christian Benteke led the Villans to an impressive 3-1 win at Anfield. Lambert also had a soft League Cup semi-final to look forward to against Bradford which could still set the club on the path to their first piece of domestic silverware since 1996.

However, as Lambert says: "the players and supporters must stand together and fight." Else even a trip to Valley Parade on 8th January might seem like another unstable bridge back to self-belief. More imminently in the Premier League, though, Villa have a New Year's day-trip to an erratic Swansea to worry about.

Lambert's outfit have leaked the most goals in the top flight this term and scored the fewest. If you want to take first prize in a state-the-obvious competition, you would conclude that this is relegation form. But Villa stand one point above the drop zone in a tight bottom half of the table, where Reading and QPR are already cut adrift as the most likely basement bargains.

As a result, the 2.727/4 on Aston Villa being relegated makes little appeal. The return of some key personnel could soon set them on the rocky road to mid-table mediocrity, while Lerner could even free up some more millions in January. In short, this is a time for clear heads and looking forward, not back.

Sounds like the stuff of a classic new year's resolution.