Analysis: Play-offs looming after tough week for Aston Villa

Having battled their way back from a desperately slow start to the campaign and into a position to challenge for automatic promotion, back-to-back defeats for the first time since August means Steve Bruce’s men are now very much rank outsiders for a top-two finish.

Their best hope of a return to the Premier League would now appear to lie through the play-offs – that four-team end-of-season ‘lottery’ which tests the nerves of supporters but which, in truth, should hold no fear for a team so experienced at Villa’s.

Right now, of course, it understandably feels very much the consolation prize, as a week which began on a fantastic high ended on a barely-imaginable low.

Having thumped long-time leaders Wolves, Villa knew they needed to keep winning and hope their rivals, most notably Cardiff, slipped up.

Instead, it was themselves who stumbled badly, in the type of fixtures they had typically taken in their stride.

Prior to last Tuesday, Reading and Sheffield Wednesday were the only teams currently in the bottom half of the table to have triumphed against Villa this term.

Yet first QPR added their name to the list with a shock 3-1 win at Villa Park and then, on Saturday, so did Bolton, thanks to one-time Wolves loanee Adam Le Fondre’s suitably scrappy winner in a game of low quality.

A trip to face the physical and uncompromising Trotters at the end of a busy stretch of games was always going to present a tough challenge.

It was made no easier by plunging temperatures and a stop-start blizzard which made the conditions more suited to biathlon than football.

The wintry outlook suited Bolton’s aggressive and direct style down to a tee. Villa, by contrast, were guilty of failing to adapt, too often trying to play one pass too many on an untrustworthy surface.

On the rare occasions they did find a way through the home side’s backline, they were unable to capitalise.

Lewis Grabban fluffed his lines when presented with Villa’s best chance of the opening half, while Scott Hogan was denied by John Flanagan’s brilliant goal-line block.

Bruce’s post-match claim he might have picked a different XI – more suited to a direct-style of play – had he foreseen how far conditions would deteriorate in the hour before kick-off drew some scorn, yet it was fair. When Villa arrived at the Macron Stadium the sun shone and the skies were blue. By kick-off, it was a struggle to see the other side of the pitch such was the ferocity of the snow flurries.

The manager’s argument was weakened, however, by a failure to make effective changes during the match. Instead, his decision to bring three strikers off the bench left Villa looking top-heavy with no-one left to supply the ammunition to the group up front.

Villa now face a long fortnight’s break before returning to action at Hull on Saturday week.

In many senses, little has changed. Villa still have to ensure they finish the season as strongly as possible, even if consolidating a top-six spot might soon overtake challenging Cardiff as their primary objective.

With the Bluebirds still to visit Villa Park next month, there remains a slither of hope. This end to the season could yet be a thrilling one. Yet the past week has ensured the journey will be far trickier than desired.