Are we safe? Of course! (says he, nervously)

Three wins in four matches and a genuine capability of maintaining superiority over bottom-half of the league teams have sewn the basis of Villa's recovery since January. That Liverpool out-muscled and out-thought Villa in the second half last week was more of a reflection of the fact that they have a couple of old heads that knew how to get the better of the Villa. That is Villa's current downfall in not having any player in the team of both sufficient experience and level of ability to guide the rest. Stan (Petrov), you have been missed in that department.

As a wise writer in the Daily Mirror put it after the Stoke match:

As a Villans fan, you must feel as though you are in on the start of something, that you are party to a worthy new project ­ one that might stutter in its embryonic stage, one that might never reach satisfactory fruition, but one that has a certain nobility in its concept and one that will intrigue and entertain as it unfolds.

A couple of wins may well be sufficient to ensure safety, and in these remaining matches, surely we can see 6 points being gained out of Fulham and Sunderland - and in the latter match 3 points could be decisive as Sunderland are currently below the Villa.

Apr 13 H Fulham
Apr 22 A Man Utd
Apr 29 H Sunderland
May 4 A Norwich C
May 12 H Chelsea
May 19 A Wigan A

To have safety sorted before the visit to Norwich - and certainly before Wigan - would be very pleasing.

I believe safety is within reach. But that will not stop the fingernails being kept very short until the matter is sorted!
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