A young Villa side records a creditable draw in the away leg in Vienna of their Europa League Play off with Rapid.

A Martin O'Neill 'Cup Team' © is fielded by Kevin MacDonald and secures an away goal and draw in Vienna ahead of the second leg.

Midfielder Jonathan Hogg, 21, makes his debut aged 21 having signed from Middlesbrough as a schoolboy to become the 826th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Eric Lichaj, 21, makes his debut in a Villa shirt having joined from Chicago Magic in July 2007 aged 18 to become the 827th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Isaiah Osbourne makes his first appearance in a Villa shirt in 66 games since ‘that’ Moscow game and only his 6th in 103 Villa matches. It would also be Osbourne’s 30th and final appearance before joining Hibs in August 2011. Osbourne would leave with a record of W6 D11 L13, 0 Goals, 1 Assist and 2 Bookings over his 4 seasons with Villa.

Barry Bannan scores his 1st goal in a Villa shirt on his 4th appearance (2 Starts) to make it W2 D0 L2, 1 Goal and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Villa's new manager finally bothers to turn up as Villa win in the League Cup third round.

Gérard Houllier’s first game in charge came against familiar Cup foes Blackburn and despite going a goal down, Villa launched a spirited comeback with Houllier making an immediate impact with his first tactical substitution for the club as Emile Heskey scores just a minute after coming on to hand Villa the lead. 

Despite the win, concerns were already being aired, as Houllier had actually been appointed on 8 September but elected to not take up his new role immediately. The perception that Houllier wasn’t fully committed would prove hard to shake. 

Houllier didn't help himself by damning his match winner with feint praise as almost in an act of sinility he contradicted himself to the point of cringeworthy embarrassment whilst undermining Ashley Young's previous 4 years in a Villa shirt . 

Centre back Curtis Davies, 25, makes his 67th and final appearance in a Villa shirt (60 Starts) before moving on to Birmingham City in January 2011 for a fee of £3,600,000. Davies joined Villa in August 2007 from West Bromwich Albion, however, over the previous twelve months Davies had barely featured due to injury would leave with a record of W32 D19 L16, 3 Goals, 1 Assist and 4 Bookings from his 4 seasons with the club.

John Carew secures his 50th win in a Villa shirt on his 100th start and 125th appearance to make it W50 D41 L34, 48 Goals, 12 Assists and 10 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 1.67 starts he has made so far in his Villa career. 

Nathan Delfouneso contributes his 1st assist in a Villa shirt on his 29th appearance (22 Starts) to make it W11 D8 L10, 6 Goals, 1 Assist and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Emile Heskey secures his 25th win in a Villa shirt on his 61st appearance (39 Starts) to make it W25 D19 L17, 9 Goals, 4 Assists and 3 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa need extra time to beat Championship side Burnley in the fourth round of the League Cup.

Marc Albrighton is sent off on his 18th appearance in a Villa (11 Starts) to make it W7 D3 L8, 1 Goals, 4 Assists, 4 Bookings and 1 Red Card.

Nigel Reo-Coker makes his 100th appearance in a Villa shirt (87 Starts) to make it W46 D25 L29, 3 Goals, 4 Assists, 20 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

James Collins secures his 20th win in a Villa shirt on his 46th Appearance (44 Starts) to make it W20 D15 L11, 2 Goals and 8 Bookings.

Villa win for the first time in six Premier League games under Gérard Houllier to help Villa climb to tenth in the table.

Villa reverse the script and after seeing an injury time equaliser rob them of a win last time out, an 89' James Collins goal earns Gérard Houllier a first win in six. 

Dig a little deeper though and visitors Blackpool made ten changes and almost forced a draw as concerns mounted that at team - minus only James Milner - sat 10th in the table with 16 points after 12 games having sat fifth with 21 points 12 months previously under Martin O'Neill.

Gabriel Agbonlahor secures his 80th win in a Villa shirt 192 appearances (176 Starts) to make it W80 D57 L55, 52 Goals, 23 Assists and 15 Bookings.

Villa extend their unbeaten Premier League run to four winning once under Gérard Houllier as they climb to 9th in the table.

But Villa throw away a two goal League to miss out on a second successive League win over Manchester United after last season's victory at Old Trafford under Martin O'Neill.

Villa now have 1 League win in 7 under Gérard Houllier.

Midfielder Chris Herd makes his debut in a Villa shirt having graduated from the youth team to become the 829th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

James Collins makes his 50th appearance in a Villa shirt (48 Starts) to make it W21 D18 L11, 3 Goals and 8 Bookings.

Stewart Downing makes his 50th appearance in a Villa shirt (47 Starts) to make it W23 D16 L11, 8 Goals, 8 Assists and 1 Booking at a goal involvement rate of one every 3.12 games played so far in his Villa career.

Villa win for only the third time in eleven under Gérard Houllier as he remains deeply unpopular for his ill-judged comments following the Liverpool defeat.

Villa's win is their first in 6 matches under Gérard Houllier but all the focus was on his idiotic comments after the Liverpool defeat and the growing demands for his immediate dismissal. 

Meanwhile, although a large swathe of senior players also felt the same way the spineless nature of the Villa boardroom saw no such action and instead they launched a public show of support despite widespread criticism.

Villa lose for the fourth time in five Premier League games to make it three wins in twelve under Gérard Houllier as they slump back to 15th in the table.

Whilst the defeat was chastening what was more concerning was that the gap of 15 days since the last game - Villa’s victory over Albion, which had been overshadowed by Houllier’s idiotic Liverpool comments - had been filled with further acrimony within the squad towards the manager. 

17 December 2010 “I’ve read about dissent in the squad over training methods but it is not true. “I know it is different to what it was before but it is not true and the players will adapt gradually. “We do a lot of work with the ball, we play a lot of games, we do some tactics as well. “Do people have to adapt to a new manager and methods? In a way, yes. You adapt or you die. We are changing a lot of things and that upsets the comfort of some players. “I am not going to talk about the players who are dissenting and not happy. Any manager who runs a team knows the players who are playing are happy, and the players who are not playing are not happy. “They think the methods are not good and they think the manager is not the right person but we have to live with that. “We know that we are changing things, we know that sometimes people are whingeing and moaning but they have a fantastic job. “They are paid high wages to play and enjoy football. This is a fantastic job and sometimes you forget that.” Gérard Houllier

Fabian Delph makes his 1st appearance in a Villa shirt since April to make it 16 Appearances (11 Starts), W8 D4 L4, 1 Goal and 6 Bookings.

Jonathan Hogg, 22, makes his 7th and final appearance for Villa before moving on to Watford on a free transfer in August 2011. Hogg had made his debut earlier in the season and recorded W1 D2 L4 and 2 Bookings during his 4 months in first team contention. 

Villa lose for the fifth time in six Premier League games to make it three wins in thirteen under Gérard Houllier as they remain 15th in the table with the unpopular boss admitting Villa are in a relegation fight as that was an entirely normal experience for a club that had finished sixth for three successive seasons.

Something needed to change and fast, Villa were in total free-fall under Gérard Houllier and there were absolutely no positives to take from his first 17 games in charge. 

Even the much derided David O'Leary had bled youngsters of quality, whilst the mess of Graham Taylor's second reign had at least seen the average squad age slashed but for Houllier though there was no such context.

Although the season had only just reached its half way stage, on current form, relegation looked inevitable. 

With only James Milner the difference, after 19 games in 2009-10, Martin O’Neill’s Villa sat joint third with 35 points. In contrast Houllier had taken Villa to 15th on 20 points.

A second string Villa side toils to an uninspired victory at home to League Two Hereford in the second round of the League Cup as Alex McLeish already faces loud demands to up the attacking tempo of his teams.

Eric Lichaj scores his first goal in a Villa shirt on his 9th appearance (7 Starts) to make it W5 D2 L2, 1 Goal and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Andreas Weimann makes his first appearance for a year due to injury to make it 3 substitute appearances, W2 D1 L0 and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Chris Herd makes his first appearance for five months and first under Alex McLeish to make it 8 appearances in a Villa shirt (3 Starts), W3 D1 L4 so far in his Villa career.

Midfielder Jean Makoun plays first game in 4 months and first under Alex McLeish in what is his 8th and final appearance for Villa aged 28 before moving on to Stade Rennais for a fee of £2,700,000 in July 2013. Former manager Gérard Houllier had brought Makoun to the club just 7 months before his final game spending £5,580,000 on the player who frankly looked completely out of his depth in English football regardless of the standard of opposition, and whose sole contribution was the regularity with which he accumulated cards. Makoun would leave with a record of W3 D3 L2, 3 Bookings and 1 Red Card.

Right back Habib Bèye, makes his first appearance in 13 months, his first under Alex McLeish and his final in a Villa shirt. Bèye, who was an eyebrow raising signing under Martin O'Neill had looked well below the necessary standard before being placed on Gérard Houllier's infamous 'bomb squad' of first team players not to be considered for duty during 2010-11. Bèye, 34, was released by Villa before subsequently joining Doncaster Rovers with whom he had spent a loan spell. Bèye had been bought by Martin O’Neill for £2,610,000 in 2009. Bèye left with a record of W8 D3 L7, 1 Assist, 3 Bookings and 1 Red Card across his 3 seasons with the club and, despite having spent previous seasons in English football with Newcastle, never looked of sufficient standard to play in the top flight.

Marc Albrighton contributes his 15th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 26th start (44 Appearances) to make it W17 D11 L16, 6 Goals, 9 Assists, 4 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Stephen Ireland makes his 15th appearance in a Villa shirt (10 Starts) and first under Alex McLeish having failed in his loan spell at Newcastle (where he was shipped just 6 months after his regretted arrival at the club) and even against League Two Hereford contributed precisely nothing, just as he had done throughout his 12 months with Villa. Ireland's record stands at W3 D4 L8, 0 Goals, 0 Assists and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Villa lose for the first time in four to leave them with seven wins in twenty nine Premier League games under Alex McLeish but the result, the season and the struggles under the manager are rendered completely irrelevant with news that Villa's beloved captain Stiliyan Petrov is suffering from leukaemia.

By the time Villa lined up the following Saturday for their match vs. 5th placed Chelsea Petrov’s diagnosis had been confirmed. Saturday, 24 March 2012 however was the date that marked legendary Villa midfielder Petrov’ final appearance for Villa. Thankfully Petrov would ultimately recover from his illness but his football career was ended at the age of 32. Petrov had made 219 appearances (206 Starts) over his 6 seasons with Villa and beyond just his playing achievements represented everything good about football. Petrov left a record behind of W87 D69 L63, 12 Goals, 13 Assists and 39 Bookings.

Gabriel Agbonlahor suffers his 75th defeat in a Villa shirt on his 245th appearance (222 Starts) to make it W95 D75 L75, 62 Goals, 31 Assists and 25 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Stephen Ireland makes his 25th start in a Villa shirt (35 Appearances) and has now gone 8 games without a goal involvement, and 31st in total to record W8 D11 L16, 1 Goal, 2 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Off the pitch Charles N'Zogbia and Alex McLeish kiss and make up after an unseemly and unecessary spat add further woe to Villa's season.

Villa suffer consecutive defeats to make it seven wins in thirty Premier League games under Alex McLeish but the out-pouring of love for Stiliyan Petrov eclipses any on pitch troubles.

Alex McLeish's Villa suffer a second successive defeat as an injury ravaged side - with nine first team players absent - respond from two goals down to equalise only for fifth placed Chelsea to score two late goals. 

After 30 games of a challenging Premier League campaign, Villa remained in 15th place, five points clear of the relegation places. A year previously, under Gérard Houllier, Villa had sat 14th, just a single point clear of the relegation places.

Marc Albrighton contributes his 20th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 68th appearance (41 Starts) to make it W22 D20 L26, 9 Goals, 11 Assists, 8 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Andreas Weimann makes his 1st start in a Villa shirt on his 11th appearance to make it W5 D3 L3, 1 Goal and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Eric Lichaj contributes his first assist in a Villa shirt on his 11th appearance (8 Starts) to make it W5 D2 L4, 2 Goals, 1 Assist and 3 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Barry Bannan suffers his 20th defeat in a Villa shirt on his 47th appearance (24 Starts) to make it W14 D13 L20, 2 Goals, 3 Assists and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Alex McLeish's Villa face a third successive game against a top 6 side and come away with a creditable and hard fought draw to remain in 15th six points clear of the relegation places with seven games left to play. 

Villa put in their strongest performance since New Years' eve as they are held to a thirteenth draw of the season after a late Liverpool equaliser at Anfield. Villa climb to 15th in the table but are now left with just seven wins in thirty one Premier League games under Alex McLeish as relegation remains entirely possible.

Samir Carruthers makes his Villa debut aged 19 after graduating from the youth team to become the 882nd player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Chris Herd scores his first goal in a Villa shirt on his 21st appearance (16 Starts) to make it W6 D6 L9, 1 Goal, 2 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Shay Given concedes his 40th goal in a Villa shirt on his 27th appearance at a rate of 1.40 League Goals per Game to make it W5 D12 L10, 40 Goals Conceded, 6 Clean Sheets and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Barry Bannan makes his 25th start in a Villa shirt (48 Appearances) to make it W14 D14 L20, 2 Goals, 4 Assists and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Stephen Ireland has now gone 10 games without a goal involvement, and 33rd in total on his 37th appearance in a Villa shirt (27 Starts) to make it W8 D12 L17, 1 Goal, 2 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa draw for the second successive game to make it fourteen stalemates for the season and just seven wins in thirty two Premier League games under Alex McLeish.

Villa are now without a home win in five months.

Gabriel Agbonlahor makes his 225th start in a Villa shirt (248 Appearances) to make it W95 D77 L76, 62 Goals, 31 Assists and 25 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Stephen Ireland contributes his first goal involvement in 11 games on his 38th appearance in a Villa shirt (28 Starts) to make it W8 D13 L17, 1 Goal, 3 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Alex McLeish's Villa face a fourth game against a top 6 side in five matches as they face off against Ashley Young equipped League leaders Manchester United. The defeat - their first in three - leaves Villa in 15th six points clear of the relegation places with five games left to play.

Villa suffer a heavy defeat to end a run of successive draws as Alex McLeish calls for "three home Cup finals" to avoid relegation after posting just seven wins in thirty three Premier League games under his leadership.

James Collins makes his 100th start in a Villa shirt (105 Appearances) to make it W38 D38 L29, 6 Goals and 18 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Barry Bannan makes his 50th appearance in a Villa shirt (27 Starts) to make it W14 D15 L21, 2 Goals, 4 Assists and 5 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Gary Gardner collects his first booking in a Villa shirt on his 14th appearance (5 Starts) to make it W4 D4 L6, 0 Goals, 0 Assists and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Villa record a sixth goalless game and fifteenth draw under Alex McLeish to make it  seven wins in thirty four Premier League games as Villa sit 15th in the table six points clear of relegation with four to play as Martin O'Neill makes his first appearance at Villa Park since his moonlight flit in August 2010. 

Gabriel Agbonlahor makes his 250th appearance in a Villa shirt (227 Starts) to make it W95 D78 L77, 62 Goals, 31 Assists and 25 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

With relegation just a disappointing mathematical possibility the game before, Alex McLeish contrives to lose to Bolton at Villa Park to leave Villa just three points above the drop with three to play and in the worst form in the League - without a win in seven - and with only seven wins in thirty five this season. 

Even under Houllier in 2010-11 Villa were 6 points clear with 35 games played and in 13th place with 41 points.

Charles N'Zogbia contributes his 5th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 30th appearance (23 Starts) to make it W7 D13 L10, 1 Goal, 4 Assists and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Eric Lichaj collects his 5th booking in a Villa shirt on his 16th appearance (13 Starts) at a rate of 1 card for every 3.2 games he has played to make it W5 D5 L6, 2 Goals, 1 Assist and 5 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa record a seventh goalless game under Alex McLeish to make it seven wins in thirty six Premier League games.

Villa are now winless in the last 8 games under Alex McLeish.

Villa record their 16th draw in 36 matches under Alex McLeish.

Villa remain 15th, three points clear of the drop zone but with a vastly superior goal difference to the clubs around them. Relegation therefore looks unlikely but at least another point is needed to make certain. 

Samir Carruthers makes his final appearance for Villa aged 19 before moving on to MK Dons in August 2014 for a fee of £225,000. Carruthers had made a total of 3 substitute appearances for Villa all of which came in March and April 2012 leaving with a record of W0 D2 L1 and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Chris Herd makes his 25th appearance in a Villa shirt (20 Starts) to make it W6 D9 L10, 1 Goal, 2 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Emile Heskey collects his 10th booking in a Villa shirt on his 108th appearance (69 Starts) to make it W37 D37 L34, 14 Goals, 5 Assists, 10 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Alex McLeish's Villa draw for the seventeenth time in 37 Premier League games but it is enough to ensure that, despite dropping to 16th in the table, Villa secure top flight football for 2012-13 with a game to spare, just as they had done in 2010-11.

Villa set an unwanted club record with only four wins all term.

A victory at Norwich next weekend will not prevent Villa recording their lowest points tally in 20 years as members of the Premier League.

Stephen Warnock makes his 100th appearance in a Villa shirt (99 Starts) to make it W35 D33 L32, 3 Goals, 8 Assists and 17 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Charles N'Zogbia contributes his 5th assist on his 25th start in a Villa shirt (32 Appearances) to make it W7 D15 L10, 1 Goal, 5 Assists and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Off the field, James Collins, Chris Herd and Fabian Delph are punished for a nightclub 'fracas' following the end of season awards event.

Villa end a most difficult season with just seven wins in thirty eight Premier League games as Alex McLeish's tenure ends exactly as many predicted but no one wanted.

Villa end the campaign without a win in ten games under Alex McLeish.

Villa end the season on their lowest points tally since another unpopular Scot, Billy McNeill, took Villa down in 1986-87. 

McLeish had masterminded 14 losses and 18 draws in a 38 game season. 

The irony however was that up until April 2012 McLeish’s record was actually better than that of his predecessor however the last eight games of the campaign - having lost skipper Stiliyan Petrov - were simply torrid and a respectable 15th, in a more competitive League than 2010-11 and with the same points gained as under Gérard Houllier, became 16th, no win in eight and once again an escape from relegation on the penultimate game of the season. 

Nobody would chose to be in a second successive relegation fight of course, however, from an objective point of view up until April the campaign had been an improvement. A manager who, in total contrast to his predecessor, wanted to be there - however much a huge swathe of fans understandably didn’t, oversaw a partial rebuild and galvanisation of a squad recovering from the destruction of the previous manager. That Villa had to deal with a huge injury list not only in numbers but also in influence and quality was just another reason to have cut some slack. 

But equally the football was often poor and overtly negative even in the better days and the manager’s provenance was never forgiven. It was right to part ways of course but the season itself deserves an objective re-evaluation away from the knee-jerk reaction to an unpopular appointment. 

The final eight games were inexcusably bad, and a season of standing still became a season of unwanted broken records of failure. However, taken as a whole, what had come immediately before and what would soon be upon Villa was immeasurably worse. 

Off the field an increasing culture of disconnection grew between the leadership of the club and the fan base and had led to two successive appointments of the wrong managers, at the wrong time, for the wrong club. The Villa hierarchy then simply couldn’t get a third successive managerial appointment wrong and a significant chunk of Villa fans had already made clear their favoured candidate sat in the opposition dug-out. 

Centre back Richard Dunne makes his final appearance for Villa aged 32 before moving on to Queens Park Rangers on a free transfer in July 2013. Dunne would miss the entire 2012-13 season through injury having made 111 appearances and leaving with a record of W39 D39 L33, 5 Goals, 1 Assist and 19 Bookings.

Centre back James Collins makes his final appearance for Villa aged 28 before returning to West Ham United for £2,880,000 in August 2012. Collins made 108 appearances (102 Starts) during his 3 seasons with Villa but would be sold by Paul Lambert on his arrival as Villa’s new boss despite a record of W38 D40 L30, 6 Goals and 18 Bookings and without a suitable replacement coming in. 

Centre back Carlos Cuéllar makes his final appearance for Villa aged 30 before moving on to Sunderland on a free transfer in July 2012. Cuéllar made 121 appearances (114 Starts) during his 4 seasons with Villa but would be sold by Paul Lambert on his arrival as Villa’s new boss despite a record of W53 D33 L35, 3 Goals, 5 Assists, 16 Bookings and 1 Red Card and without a suitable replacement coming in. 

Centre forward Emile Heskey makes his final appearance for Villa aged 34 before retiring from football. Heskey made 110 appearances but only 71 starts during his 4 seasons with Villa but would be sold by Paul Lambert on his arrival as Villa’s new boss. Heskey had contributed 19 goal involvements across his first 54 starts (83 Appearances) up to August 2011 but thereafter things dried up and Heskey was left without a goal in 27 games and without an assist in 47 to leave with a record of W37 D38 L35, 14 Goals, 5 Assists, 10 Bookings and 1 Red Card.

Right back Stephen Warnock makes 100th start and his 101st and final appearance for Villa aged 30 before moving on to Leeds United on a free transfer in January 2013. Warnock was a solid player who served Villa well over his 3 seasons and 101 appearances, however he was treated abominably by Gérard Houllier and later by Paul Lambert both of whom ostracised Warnock from first team consideration and considerably weakened the defensive options of the team. Warnock would depart with a record of W35 D33 L33, 3 Goals, 8 Assists and 17 Bookings.

Shay Given concedes his 50th goal in a Villa shirt on his 34th appearance at a rate of 1.41 League Goals per Game to make it W5 D16 L13, 50 Goals Conceded, 8 Clean Sheets and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Villa are well beaten at home to make it two defeats from two games under Paul Lambert as the great hope already looks less than was promised.

Paul Lambert's Villa, three goals down by half time, suffered a second successive defeat as they were dispatched with ease by Everton at Villa Park. Two games into the reign of the effectively 'fan appointed' Lambert and things were already looking less than rosy with the newly installed Villa boss already talking of the relegation battle ahead. 

Villa have now gone 12 top-flight games without a win for the first time since 1986-87 when they were relegated under Billy McNeill. 

Nathan Delfouneso - having been called up by Lambert to make his first start in over 9 months - was substituted by Lambert at half time in what would prove to be his final appearance for Villa aged 21 before moving on to Blackpool on a free transfer in July 2014. In total Delfouneso made 51 appearances, 37 as substitute and left with a record of W15 D14 L22, 9 goals, 2 Assists and 2 Bookings from his 5 seasons with the club.

Karim El Ahmadi scores his first goal in a Villa shirt on his 2nd appearance to make it W0 D0 L2, 1 Goal and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Barry Bannan suffers his 25th defeat in a Villa shirt on his 55th appearance (28 Starts) to make it W14 D16 L25, 2 Goals, 4 Assists and 5 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa win for the first time under Paul Lambert as they beat League One side Tranmere to progress to the third round of the League Cup.

Paul Lambert's Villa, seeking respite from their League troubles, see off League One Tranmere at Villa Park to progress in the League Cup as Villa are represented by one of the youngest sides to have taken the field for the club in many seasons. 

Defender Enda Stevens, 22, contributes an assist on his debut for Villa after joining from Shamrock Rovers in January 2012 under Alex McLeish for a fee of £257,000 to become the 847th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Forward Graham Burke makes his debut appearance for Villa aged 18 after coming through the youth team ranks to become the 848th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Darren Bent scores his 1st goal under Paul Lambert and his 20th in a Villa shirt on his 43rd appearance (42 Starts) to make it W16 D13 L14, 20 Goals, 2 Assists and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career. Bent's goal comes on his 3rd appearance under Lambert.

Fabian Delph collects his 10th booking in a Villa shirt on his 36th appearance (27 Starts) at a rate of a card every 3.60 games he has played and makes it W14 D10 L12, 2 Goals and 10 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Brett Holman scores his 1st goal and contributes his 1st assist in a Villa shirt on his 3rd appearance (1 Start) to make it W1 D0 L2, 1 Goal and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Paul Lambert's Villa earn their first point of the season to rise to 17th place in the early Premier League table.

Ciaran Clark contributes his 10th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 48th appearance (42 Starts) to make it W15 D14 L19, 7 Goals, 3 Assists and 14 Bookings so far in his Villa career. Clark has now picked up a booking every 3.43 games he has played.

Barry Bannan contributes his 5th booking in a Villa shirt on his 57th appearance (30 Starts) to make it W15 D17 L25, 2 Goals, 5 Assists and 6 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa win, and keep a clean sheet, for the first time after a troubling start to the season under a seemingly overwhelmed Paul Lambert.

Midfielder Ashley Westwood, 22, makes his Villa debut after moving from League One side Crewe Alexandra for £2,250,000 in August 2012 to become the 849th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Centre forward Christian Benteke, 21, makes a goalscoring debut after joining from KRC Genk for a fee of £7,920,000 in August 2012 to become the 850th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Matt Lowton scores his 1st goal in a Villa shirt on his 5th appearance to make it W2 D1 L2, 1 Goal and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Ciaran Clark collects his 15th booking in a Villa shirt on his 49th appearance (43 Starts) to make it W16 D14 L19, 7 Goals, 3 Assists and 15 Bookings so far in his Villa career. Clark has now picked up a booking every 3.27 games he has played.

Brad Guzan keeps his 10th clean sheet in a Villa shirt on his 33rd appearance (31 Starts) to make it W17 D5 L11, 36 Goals Conceded, 10 Clean Sheets, 1.09 Goals per Game and 3 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa's troubled start to life under Paul Lambert continues as they are well beaten at St Mary's to leave them with three defeats in five Premier League outings with alarm bells beginning to ring.

Paul Lambert's Villa lose their third game in five Premier League matches as concerns mount. Heavier defeats and worse performances than had been typical under both Lambert's generally poor predecessors Houllier and McLeish raised alarm bells. 

With goals at a premium and a defence struggling, the folly of Lambert having ostracised the experience of Alan Hutton and Stephen Warnock (now on loan at Championship side Bolton) and banishing Shay Given to the subs bench became ever more apparent. 

Five League games in it was clear Lambert wasn't the solution many had hoped. 

Left back Joe Bennett, 22, makes his debut after joining from Championship side Middlesbrough for a fee of £2,840,000 in August 2012 to become the 851st player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Ciaran Clark suffers his 20th defeat in a Villa shirt on his 50th appearance (44 Starts) to make it W16 D14 L20, 7 Goals, 3 Assists and 15 Bookings so far in his Villa career. Clark has now picked up a booking every 3.33 games he has played.

Gabriel Agbonlahor suffers his 80th defeat in a Villa shirt on his 255th appearance (229 Starts) to make it W95 D80 L80, 62 Goals, 31 Assists and 25 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Brad Guzan concedes his 40th goal in a Villa shirt on his 34th appearance (32 Starts) to make it W17 D5 L12, 40 Goals Conceded, 10 Clean Sheets, 1.27 Goals per League Game and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Darren Bent suffers his 15th defeat in a Villa shirt on his 46th appearance (45 Starts) to make it W17 D14 L15, 21 Goals, 2 Assists and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Stephen Ireland contributes his 5th assist in a Villa shirt on his 47th appearance (37 Starts) (one of which came against lower league opposition Tranmere) to make it W10 D16 L21, 1 Goal, 5 Assists and 3 Bookings so far in his Villa career.