Monday’s game was the ultimate culmination of how Aston Villa have been playing since their humiliating exit from both of the domestic cups. The improvement had been steady. Games against clubs in and around Villa on the table that the club had either lost or drawn, had started to become wins. Those wins were filled to the brim with angst and anxiety for everyone involved, but they were wins and important points. Still, none of those results were complete. The team had yet to put it all together for a full 90 minutes. Monday, that day finally came.

If that result does not make you salivate for next season, when this team can start with a clean slate, you either don’t have a pulse, or you’re Frem! All kidding aside, the table does not tell the story of how good this team is right now. The table does not lie; Villa are 16th because they deserve to be 16th, but that is over the course of the entire season. At this very instant, this team is far better than the 16th best team in England. It is unfortunate we will all have to wait another three months to watch the team prove it.

All indications are that none of the team’s key players will leave. While it’s foolhardy to believe the press, when multiple outlets report that the club plans on keeping and is optimistic about keeping both Christian Benteke and Andreas Weimann, one has to think and hope there’s fire underneath all the smoke. The way those two and Gabby have learned to play together is the story of the last third of the season. The idea of seeing them play together like this for 30 or so league games is almost enough to make me wish the upcoming summer away.

Not being able to see the game as it was in the middle of my workday, the first thing I did when I saw the final score was text Matt and ask him what the atmosphere was like at Villa Park. I could only imagine what it was like. In my mind the stands were shaking with all the noise and excitement. It has been to long since Villa Park has been like that. It should’ve been like that against Bradford, but that’s water under the bridge.

In contrast, around a year ago at this time the stadium was rocking, but for all the wrong reasons. A year ago, a struggling Villa side playing dire, unwatchable football was barely hanging on to its league place. A win against fellow stragglers, Bolton, would have almost assured safety. The crowd then was closer to a Roman mob than modern football supporters as they sang, “F— off McLeish, the Villa is ours!”

What we all wanted was change. Without assigning blame, it was plain to see that what was going on was not working and was not acceptable. One year later, changes have been made and the Villa is still ours.

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