Villa are fortunate others have stumbled sooner and for longer this season – ensuring they have maintained a decent grip on third place until now.

Chelsea have dropped 17 points from winning positions at Stamford Bridge and 19 points overall in the Premier League this season.

They go to Arsenal on Sunday hoping to capitalise on Villa’s latest slip – before travelling to Villa Park on Wednesday for a game which could define both teams’ seasons.

Lille, in the Europa League on March 12, and a trip to Old Trafford on 15 March will then loom large for Villa.

Individual form has also plummeted, with Ollie Watkins scoring just once in 11 games – reminiscent of the spell where he scored only one goal in the opening 19 matches – while Morgan Rogers is on a similar streak.

The slump was sparked by injuries to Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn and Youri Tielemans last month as Villa’s lack of depth was exposed.

Players argued between themselves as Ezri Konsa – who also had a flashpoint with fans at the end – and Amadou Onana urged Emi Buendia to leave the pitch quicker as he was substituted.

The cracks are showing and even the players are admitting to feeling the pressure.

“It does weigh on us but it shouldn’t,” said Rogers. “We deserve to be here and we should not forget that.

“Our run lately has not been as good as usual but that is the battle of the Premier League. We are going to get back to our good run of wins.

“We set our standards high and we have the ability to win every game. Obviously that is not realistic but we are playing good football as a whole and there is nothing to worry about.

“They [the next fixtures] are the games you want to play and, with so much on the line, we need to show why we deserve to be where we are.”