There appears to be no ‘quick’fix’ where Stoke City are concerned as the board, players, manager and fans are now all aware with The Potters sitting in a disappointing bottom half position of 17th place in the Championship.
It seems strange though that the club dismissed former manager, Gary Rowett, with Stoke City sitting in 14th place and eight points adrift of the play-off pack, but then keep faith with former Luton Town boss, Nathan Jones, with the hosts now sitting in 17th place and a significant 13 points behind the top six.
Stoke have certainly made their bed and now must lie in it, and this will be an uncomfortable reality for all concerned as Stoke have managed just one win from their last 10 matches in the Championship.
That rare win came in an unlikely 2-1 home win over Leeds United, but six defeats within this 10-match period has seen the hosts slowly but surely slide down the league table. A home record of W7 D3 L6 scored 17, conceded 17 is way below pre-season expectations of making a serious challenge for automatic promotion back to the Premier League, and the disparity between expectation and reality has become a gulf.
In addition, since losing the likes of forwards Shaqiri and Crouch, the goals have dried up at the bet365 Stadium with Stoke possessing the joint fourth lowest goal tally at home in the division - interestingly, 11 of Stoke’s 16 home matches have resulted in under 2.5 goals, as Nathan Jones appears to be living on borrowed time.
Onto Aston Villa, and they too are experiencing a difficult campaign under former Brentford manager, Dean Smith, as the visitors sit in a disappointing 10th place with their current league position being one lower and two points adrift of bitter rivals, Birmingham City, which certainly won’t have been lost on the Villa fans, nor Birmingham’s for that matter!
Villa come into this clash on the back of four matches without a win in the Championship having drawn with Reading and Sheffield united along with enduring back-to-back defeats to Brentford and west midlands rivals, West Brom, so Smith is under increasing pressure to start getting results on a consistent basis.
Aston Villa’s performances overall haven’t been in question at Villa Park where they continue to be a hard team to beat having lost just five league matches from their 40 matches played over last season and this, but results on the road have been a big let down.
Villa have won only four of their 16 away matches so far this season, while the flow of goals has also slowed down, and this is reflected by the fact that 8 of their 16 have resulted in under 2.5 goals.
Neither manager can afford another loss, so we could well see a dour, uninspiring clash which could be settled by just a single goal (if at all), so the under 2.5 goals market looks attractive for this clash.