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Rumblings of discontent continue to grow at Villa Park.

The dark and gloomy nights mirror an equally dull outlook from the claret and blue faithful who have lost all of their summer spark.

With autumn has certainly come the fall and those bright nights of August and early September have been blown away with the winter wind.

A fine start to the campaign has been cancelled out by a dismal and goal-shy run of seven games without a win.

This weekend will pass without any further damage but already supporters are again questioning whether Paul Lambert is the right man for the job.

The bookies have him as the favourite to be the next manager sacked and that itself is quite incredible given that he only extended his contract at the club some eight weeks ago.

What Aston Villa fans can’t understand is how their side have scored just one goal and registered only a single point since he signed the new deal.

Granted, the fixtures have been tough but it’s hard to see where the next win is coming from with high-flying Southampton next on the agenda.

That is the supporters’ main concern right now. The goalless draw at West Ham finally ended the losing streak but it’s victories that Villa now need.

In times of success supporters will celebrate and praise the positives but when the going gets tough they want to know why.

Lambert is aware that emotions run high in the stands, He also understands that fans are paying customers who want to receive only the best end product.

This is not lost on the Scot. He regularly speaks about their passion and how the club benefits from their support but of late his side have not given them enough back in return.

It’s nothing new for Lambert to be feeling the heat - during each season at the club there have been difficult moments that he’s had to address.

In football these days you are only a few bad results away from a mountain of pressure but as Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew is starting to prove there can be a way out of it.

The situation up there was far worse than it is at Villa. Unlike at St James’ Park where the Toon Army have protested against Pardew, Villa Park has never turned in such force.

There have been some pretty hostile away days where vociferous anti-Lambert chants have dominated proceedings but it’s never reached the state of that in the north east.

What should give Villa fans hope is that a revival could be just around the corner. Newcastle’s stunning turnaround shows that.

They were almost relegated in May 2013 and their form over the course of the second half of last season was dreadful.

Results in this calendar year, until the win over Leicester City last month, were just as bad but now five wins on the bounce has changed the outlook somewhat.

Sam Allardyce has also been the subject of relentless crowd abuse in the past, but like Pardew, he is starting to make a difference at West Ham.

Results have been impressive and the Hammers’ new-found attacking style is what the fans have desperately craved.

Last week Lambert spoke about how hates seeing his Premier League peers flooded with pressure. He doesn’t enjoy being on the receiving end himself, either.

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The only way he can overcome that and receive a majority backing is with positive results.

What will benefit Villa in the coming weeks is the forthcoming games against teams around them in the table.

Despite the struggles of recent seasons, Lambert have always managed to record the results that really matter in the league.

The Villa boss wouldn’t want to swap his fixture list with any other manager either, but if things don’t change soon the pressure will continue to build with every passing winless week.

For this weekend there will be little worry other than the international contingent returning unscathed.

Then it’s all about looking ahead to stopping second-placed Southampton and kick-starting their season once again.