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Aston Villa are half a dozen games into their Championship campaign as the pressure of being promotion favourites weighs heavily on the club for the second season running.

Here we compare how Villa have started under Steve Bruce to a year ago when they were under the management of Roberto Di Matteo.

We measure Bruce's record at the six game stage against that of his claret and blue predecessor.

Results

Bruce

Villa 1 Hull 1

Cardiff 3 Villa 0

Reading 2 Villa 1

Villa 4 Norwich 2

Bristol City 1 Villa 1

Villa 0 Brentford 0

Di Matteo

Sheff Wed 1 Villa 0

Villa 3 Rotherham 0

Villa 1 Huddersfield 1

Derby 0 Villa 0

Bristol City 3 Villa 1

Villa 2 Forest 2

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Points and goals

Both managers have won 1, lost 2 and drawn 3 of their first six matches, giving them each a total of six points from six matches.

Bruce's Villa have scored 7 and conceded 9 giving them a goal difference of minus-2.

At this stage last season, Di Matteo's Villa had scored 7 and conceded 7 giving them a goal difference of 0.

It is worth noting that Bruce does have two extra wins this season, if we bring the Carabao Cup into it.

His Villa have beaten lower league pair Colchester and Wigan, whereas Di Matteo's team fell at the first hurdle at Luton a year ago.

What happened/happens next?

Di Matteo was given another five games. These resulted in four draws (Brentford, Ipswich, Newcastle and Barnsley) and a defeat (Preston).

After 11 Championship games, Villa had just 10 points and Di Matteo was sacked on Monday, October 3.

Tony Xia has made it clear that this September is a "crucial" month when "only results matter".

Villa are currently eight points off the top two and four off the play-off positions, so all is not lost, but the pressure is on to improve their position in the remaining five league matches this month.

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They host Middlesbrough on Tuesday night and also have home matches against Nottingham Forest and Bolton Wanderers, plus trips to Barnsley and Burton.

Missing out of promotion once is misfortune, doing it twice is carelessness.

Bruce has the backing of the board for now, but then again, so did Di Matteo until the continued malaise forced them to set their own quickfire precedent...

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