This season Aston Villa's results have been nothing short of dreadful. As a result they find the self at the bottom of the table, adrift of 19th place Sunderland by 6 points.

It seems that after unconvincingly surviving relegation last season Villa didn't learn their lesson. They failed to improve their squad, although Gestede looks to have been a decent acquisition he has failed to fill the void left by Christian Benteke. Adams Traoré is a player with bags of potential but so far this season has showed very little. Ron Vlaar failed to agree a new contract with the club in the summer and his absence is clear as Villa have one of the worst defences in the league conceding 28 goals.There are glimpses of hope for Villa fans. Despite his questionable behaviour off the pitch Jack Grealish has the ability to change a game and Jordan Veretout has produced some good performances.

Remy Garde has a struggle on his hands. Usually when a new manager arrives at a club there is a honeymoon period of good results but Garde didn't get this when he arrived. He also seems unable to help his players achieve results. He has managed to motivate his team, they clearly shown fight and intent in their play but one can only wonder how long this will last if the poor results continue.

I think Aston Villa will be unable to avoid relegation this year.At this point anything better than a 20th place finish seems unlikely. For Villa to have any hope of staying up Garde will need to keep his team motivated and make some astute signings in January and for them to hit the ground running. But it seems that it would be better to simply prepare for life in the championship.