After a season of struggle under Gerrard Houllier, Aston Villa were expected to progress into the top 10 this season.
However, things have not gone exactly to plan after the arrival of new manager Alex McLeish from Birmingham City.
Alex McLeish was never the favourite amongst the Villa supporters due to his connections with Birmingham City, but Aston Villa board decided to go ahead with the appointment anyway. So far, Aston Villa have not made any progress in the Premier league and have also been knocked out of the cup competitions as well.
Despite this, Aston Villa youngster Marc Albrighton has said that Aston Villa are looking to progress in the table and are not concerned about the threat of relegation.
Aston Villa lost in the most recent home match at the hands of Manchester City, which has put them in the 15th position in the table. They are only a few points about the relegation zone, which is a position Aston Villa were never expected to be only a few seasons ago.
Under Martin O'Neill, Aston Villa were regularly challenging for the cup competitions and were also qualifying for the European competitions as well. Marc Albrighton has said that the club are now targeting six points from the next two matches in order to rise up the table. (They aren't one of the best Premier League bets, so we'd avoid it - whatever Marc says! :) )
"We definitely need to get out of this slump because it's not a good thing to have against you that you've not won in so many games at home. Villa Park should be a fortress, but it's not been good lately, and the fans will be the first to tell you that," Albrighton admitted.
Aston Villa will be facing relegation threatened Wigan Athletic in the next match. Following that, they will be facing another relegation threatened the team in the form of Blackburn Rovers.