Villa crush Birmingham with room to spare in a comprehensive performance rarely seen under Dick Taylor. As a consequence, although still in 20th place, Villa open up a four point gap to Birmingham below them with five left to play. Safety isn't secured but it certainly looks better than it did.

Dick Taylor's Villa are now unbeaten in three League games for the first time this season and make it thirteen wins, three draws and twenty one defeats in thirty seven division one matches this season. At the same point in 1963-64, under former manager Joe Mercer, Villa had lost sixteen and won nine before going on to finish 19th, two places above relegation. Ironically, Mercer’s team had lost their 37th division one game to Birmingham 0-3 at Villa Park, the exact reverse of their latest scoreline as Villa pushed their near neighbours closer to relegation and crucially lifted their own chances of survival. In consequence, with just five games left to play, Dick Taylor needed to continue the unbeaten run to ensure Villa were not going to fall to relegation alongside their neighbours at the end of his first season.