Aston Villa play host to Swansea City on Saturday afternoon on the back of eight Premier League games without a win and with manager Tim Sherwood reportedly fighting to keep his job in the West Midlands.
Swansea also head into the fixture on the back of a number of disappointing results, and Garry Monk's men must avoid defeat to avoid falling closer to the relegation zone.
Aston Villa
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Ahead of last weekend's match with Chelsea, reports suggested that Sherwood had two games to save his job at Villa Park, despite only taking charge of the club in February and leading Villa to the FA Cup final.
Little blame could be attributed to Sherwood for Villa's 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea's goals coming from a mistake by goalkeeper Brad Guzan and an unfortunate own goal from Alan Hutton, but the defeat made it seven in eight games for a club who had hoped to be challenging for a mid-table position.
Remarkably, losing by two goals at last season's champions is Villa's heaviest defeat of the season. Their six other losses have come by one goal, but it is the manner of those setbacks that have infuriated the club's supporters, with the capitulation against Leicester City and the failure to register a point against either West Bromwich Albion or Stoke City still fresh in the memory.
Despite their recent run, Villa are just four points from safety, with the damage being limited due to a quartet of teams above them failing to pick up results on a consistent basis, but the fact that the club remain within a win of closing down their rivals may be part of the reasoning behind the Villa hierarchy allegedly considering the future of their current boss.
Hosting an out-of-form Swansea side will be seen as the perfect opportunity to get three much-needed points on the board, but since Sherwood's arrival, Villa have won just three of their 11 Premier League fixtures in front of their own fans.
Recent form: DLLLLL
Recent form (all competitions): LLDLLL
Swansea City
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When Swansea stormed back to defeat Manchester United at the end of August, they saw their status in the Premier League rise from a mid-table club to a team who could potentially repeat the achievements of Southampton last season.
However, over the course of six games, Swansea have suffered an alarming loss of form that has not only left them four points above the relegation zone, but has also resulted in reports that boss Monk, a club stalwart and who had started to be linked with high-profile jobs elsewhere, could be removed from his position.
Swansea used social media to laugh off suggestions that Monk could depart the Liberty Stadium in the near future, but Monk himself will be aware that he cannot afford their current run to continue, with the impressive results in the opening three weeks of the season at risk of coming to nothing.
Home draws with Everton and Tottenham Hotspur are respectable results, but the club underperformed away at Watford and Southampton, before their winless run was extended on Monday night when they lost 1-0 at home to Stoke City.
Like in Sherwood's case, this fixture has probably come at the right time for Monk, but if one team is able to prevail on Saturday afternoon, the loser will come under increasing pressure to remain in their current position.
Losing to Villa is unlikely to result in the immediate removal of Monk, who has a good rapport with the supporters and can be credited with the progression of the team over the past 12 months. It would, however, leave Swansea just three points above Villa and ever closer to the drop zone, something which was considered a thing of the past just seven weeks ago.
Recent form: WLDLDL
Recent form (all competitions): LDLLDL
Team News
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Second-choice goalkeeper Mark Bunn may come into Sherwood's thinking after Guzan's error last weekend, but the American international could be handed a reprieve given the importance of the fixture.
Scott Sinclair, who has five goals to his name this campaign, could be recalled in place of Jordan Ayew, while Jordan Amavi is a possible starter at left-back.
Swansea's only fitness concern is regarding Wayne Routledge, who will take part in training on Friday before a decision is made regarding his involvement.
Monk must decide whether to keep faith with Bafetimbi Gomis, who is without a goal in six, with summer signing Eder still waiting for his first league start of the season.
Gylfi Sigurdsson is likely to return to the starting lineup in place of Modou Barrow, who featured against Stoke on Monday night.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Guzan; Hutton, Richards, Lescott, Amavi; Gueye, Westwood, Gil; Grealish, Sinclair, Gestede
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Fabianski; Rangel, Fernandez, Williams, Taylor; Cork, Shelvey; Sigurdsson, Ayew, Montero; Gomis
Head To Head
Since 1970, the two teams have met on 16 previous occasions, with Villa claiming seven victories and Swansea one fewer with six.
However, since Swansea earned promotion to the Premier League in 2011, Villa have won just once in eight attempts, which came in September 2012.
Swansea have prevailed in the last three, with the most recent fixture in March ending in a 1-0 success at Villa Park thanks to a late goal from Gomis.
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Hit play below to see what the Sports Mole Sofa had to say about this encounter:
We say: Aston Villa 0-1 Swansea City
With both clubs struggling of late in front of goal, one successful strike may be enough to decide this encounter. Despite the two outfits possessing several flair players, expect this match to be scrappy, and we are backing Swansea to edge it late on.
Darren Plant
