Aston Villa lost their fourth straight on Saturday, falling to Crystal Palace thanks to a late goal from Jason Puncheon. The result leaves Villa in 14th, a mere four points above Fulham, who are in 18th after beating Norwich City.
The argument can be made that Villa have a game in hand, but considering that match involves Manchester City paying a visit to Villa Park, not many fans would consider that game a reason for optimism.
(READ MORE: CRYSTAL PALACE 1-0 ASTON VILLA)
Manager Paul Lambert, however, has still managed to defy the odds and sound optimistic in his post-match press conference. There’s no doom and gloom, nothing that resembles Cardiff’ City manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s “it would take a miracle” quote of last week.
Instead the Villa gaffer pointed out that his side lost “by a fine margin” and that “it wasn’t for the lack of trying” that the team slipped.
Lambert also pointed out that things could have been different had Julian Speroni not made a great stop to deny Andi Weimann near the end of the match. “Andi has done great to get the flick for the chance but their keeper has made a fine save. These are the sort of things that are going against us at the moment but you have to keep going.”
The Aston Villa boss remains positive about his side’s chances for avoiding relegation, saying “It is what it is at the moment. There are a lot of teams there and a lot of games to play. You have to get over that finishing line as quick as you can.”
It’s true that there are still six teams below Villa in the table. However, if the Lions can’t arrest their current slide, there’s no guaranteeing their safety. Lambert does have an element of control in stopping the “sequence of losing games,” and it’s Lambert who must do his part to buoy the boys for the run-in, making sure that their confidence returns and they’re able to pick up a few points.
