Villa hammer Albion in their final game of the season as Andy Gray 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ⚽ scores a hat-trick to make it 29 goals in 1976-77 despite a barren two month spell. 

Andy Gray’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 final day ⚽ hat-trick means Villa finished 4th, one point off 3rd, in their best League standing since finishing runners up in 1932-33 under Billy Smith 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

Villa's fourth placed finish comes despite having had to contend with significant injuries and being forced to cram fifteen games into just 50 days with little to no recovery time. 

Villa's title challenge had faltered late in the campaign but little could detract from their status as the outstanding footballing side in the division. 

Villa also end the season as record three time winners of the League Cup. 

This was just Ron Saunders’ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 third season in charge.

Ron Saunders' 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa finish the season with the sort of resounding win they were stacking up for fun earlier in the season. 

Ron Saunders 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 wasn’t resting on his laurels however as he again began to reshape the squad ahead of 1977-78. 

Goalkeeper John Burridge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 25 makes his final appearance in a Villa shirt before moving on to Crystal Palace in March 1978 for a fee of £65,000. Although Burridge remained with the club for much of the following season he was out on loan for a period and made just a single, non-playing squad appearance. Burridge played for Villa in 1975-76 and 1976-77 making 80 appearances. 

Centre back Chris Nicholl 30 🇬🇧 makes his final appearance in a Villa shirt before moving on to Southampton for a fee of £60,000 in June 1977. Nicholl, a fan favourite with his committed displays, played for Villa between 1971-72 and 1976-77 making 251 appearances and scoring 20 goals.

Centre forward Andy Gray 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 scores his ⚽ 40th goal and contributes his ⚽ 🔥 50th goal involvement in a Villa shirt after 🕒 81 appearances at a rate of one every 1.62 games.

Midfielder Alex Cropley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 contributes his ⚽ 🔥 10th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 40th appearance at a rate of one every 4.00 games.