At 2-0, Villans knew it wouldn’t be a walk in the park, and they were right, with Albion fighting back hard in the second half to earn a draw and deny Villa two vital points.
Villa’s goals were lovely, with Benteke’s good early strike complemented by a fine move finished calmly by Agbonlahor. Near halftime, Villa had a chance to likely finish it off, but Foster snuffed out Lichaj’s attempt in close, and it stayed 2-0. Charles N’Zogbia was integral to Villa’s attack.
Albion came out a much different side to start the second, however, and were rewarded with a goal by Chris Brunt. From then, it seemed almost inevitable that Villa would concede an equalizer, and it finally came for West Brom off a corner.
So, better than a loss obviously, but still points dropped. Villa just can’t sit back and defend so deeply, nor they can consistently be second-best to the ball. There’s a timidity when leading that I can’t quite understand. Villa broke very effectively and with purpose in the first half, but essentially conceded the initiative to Albion in the second, which is an all-too-consistent pattern.
But, there it is. Whereas we could reasonably have expected had another four or five points from our last three games and perhaps a bit of breathing room, we’ve taken two instead, dropping four from winning positions, which is simply a dispiriting fact. While the Chelsea-Spurs-Wigan stretch might define the season for many, it could actually be this stretch of games that proves most telling.
And so the slog continues.
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