Villa are held by Manchester City to a goalless home draw but Villa climb back to eleventh having suffered just four defeats in twenty since Tony Barton took over. 

Meanwhile, Anderlecht are held equally to blame for the crowd trouble in the European Cup and though Villa must play their next home tie behind closed doors they are free to compete, with a full backing of fans, in the Rotterdam final in three weeks time.

Reigning Champions Villa make it seven Division One wins, five draws and three defeats under Tony Barton. In total Barton had now led Villa for twenty games and delivered nine wins, seven draws and four defeats since taking over from Ron Saunders whose record over 35 games in 1981-82 had been fifteen wins, eight draws and twelve losses. Villa’s unsuccessful title defence now consisted of thirteen wins, twelve draws and thirteen defeats after 38 games.

Centre back Ken McNaught 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 makes his 🕒 200th appearance in a Villa shirt.