2018–19 Aston Villa F.C. season
144th season in existence of Aston Villa / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 2018–19 EFL Championship season was Aston Villa's 144th season in English football. It was the club's third consecutive season in the Championship following relegation from the Premier League in the 2015–16 season. Villa finished in fifth place and were the winners of the subsequent play-offs to achieve promotion to the Premier League. [3]
2018–19 season | |||
---|---|---|---|
Chairman | Nassef Sawiris | ||
Manager | Steve Bruce (until 3 October)[1] Dean Smith (from 10 October)[2] | ||
Stadium | Villa Park | ||
Championship | 5th (promoted via play-offs) | ||
Play-offs | Winners | ||
FA Cup | Third round | ||
EFL Cup | Second round | ||
Top goalscorer | League: Tammy Abraham (25) All: Tammy Abraham (26) | ||
Highest home attendance | 41,696 vs Norwich City, 5 May 2019 | ||
Lowest home attendance | 27,331 vs Preston North End, 2 October 2018 | ||
Average home league attendance | 36,029 | ||
Biggest win | 4–0 vs Derby County, 2 March 2019 | ||
Biggest defeat | 1–4 vs Sheffield United, 1 September 2018 | ||
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Villa surrendered a two-goal lead, drawing 3–3 at home to bottom club Preston North End on 2 October 2018. One spectator threw a cabbage at manager, Steve Bruce, and there were calls from home fans on the Holte End for Bruce to go.[4] The following day, he was sacked by Villa after a poor run of form.[5] A week later, Dean Smith was appointed manager with the club in 15th place, with John Terry as his assistant coach.[6][7]
Smith was named as the EFL's manager of the week after overseeing a 3–0 win at Derby County on 10 November.[8] He immediately managed to reinvigorate the "Villans" attack, and only a controversial injury-time equaliser from local rivals West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns denied them a place in the play-offs by 7 December.[9][10] However Villa's form dipped dramatically in the three months after Jack Grealish was sidelined with a shin injury picked up in that match, but on 2 March, Smith gave Grealish the captaincy on his return to the first-team and the 23-year old inspired an important 4–0 victory over play-off rivals Derby County and went on to captain the team from that game onwards.[11]
Smith was given that month's EFL Championship Manager of the Month award after achieving five wins in five games, including a 1-0 victory over Second City derby rivals Birmingham City on 10 March with Grealish scoring the only goal.[12] Earlier in the match, Grealish was "punched from behind by a pitch invader"[13] who was then sent to prison for 14 weeks for pitch encroachment and assault.[14][15] Following Villa's promotion, the teams have not met since.
On 22 April 2019, the team surpassed a 109 year old club record for longest winning run after defeating Millwall 1–0 at Villa Park to make it 10 successive victories in 10 matches. The record had previously been held at nine straight wins.[16] On 11 May, the new manager oversaw his 18th win with Aston Villa as they came from behind to beat West Brom 2–1 in the first leg of the Championship play-off semi-finals.[17] Three days later, Villa came from behind at West Brom to win on penalties and secure a place in the play-off final.[18] Villa went on to win promotion to the Premier League with a 2–1 victory over Derby County.[19]