Aston Villa: Does it get any duller than this?

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In the English Premier League, often described as the most entertaining in the world, the Birmingham-based team are a mundane anomaly.

With over half of the current season gone, Villa are the Premier League's lowest scorers with 11 goals in 20 games.



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That miserly total is the lowest of all the 92 clubs in England's four-tier football pyramid, with only Germany's Hamburg dipping below Villa's scoring ratio of one goal every 1.8 games.

In Spain, leaders Real Madrid have rattled in 56 goals in 16 games, while over in Germany, Bayern Munich have notched 41 goals in 17 games.

In Italy, a league that prides itself on defensive ruthlessness and was so in love with the idea of defence they even invented a word for it -- Catenaccio -- leaders Juventus are averaging two goals every game.

So if European football is the land of goalscoring gunslingers, Villa are very much the stumbling drunk crouching behind the saloon door.

For the hardy souls who attend the team's matches, now is the winter of their discontent.

In the seven matches Villa have played at their Villa Park stadium, Paul Lambert's shot-shy side has managed just seven goals.

To put that into context, fans who own season tickets have been paying between $25 and $46 per goal.

It's hardly surprising that the team played in front of its lowest Premier League attendance since 1999 during a December match against Southampton.

Three Premier League players, Sergio Aguero, Diego Costa and Charlie Austin, have scored more league goals this season than the entire Villa team, while league leaders Chelsea and second placed Manchester City have each scored four times as many goals as the Birmingham team.

Even England's two cup competitions have proved scant consolation for those Villa fans hoping their team might just cut loose away from the fevered pressure of the Premier League.

Villa lost in the League Cup to third tier Leyton Orient -- failing to score in the process. The FA Cup did provide a goal -- just the one mind -- though even then the Villa took 88 minutes to get off the mark before Christian Benteke's strike earned a 1-0 win over second tier Blackpool.

At times Villa fans must have felt the football Gods were truly conspiring against them. How else to explain that first-tier Bournemouth recently turned up in the Midlands city to play Villa's rivals Birmingham City and won 8-0 -- as many goals as the Villans have scored in their home city all season.

Despite the team's unerring defiance of the very essence of the sport, it's not all bad news for Villa fans with the team sitting in a surprisingly healthy league position.

With only five wins to their name this season, Villa still find themselves 12th in the table six places and five points clear of the relegation zone -- the bottom three positions of the 20-team league.

This weekend they face bottom team Leicester City who, despite having picked up just 14 points to Villa's 22, have scored eight more goals heading into Saturday's match.

Social media has been a release mechanism for the club's fans, with many using statistics to damn Villa's lousy performances, with manager Paul Lambert taking his fair share of the flak.

Villa are the only side in the Premier League yet to have a substitute score a goal this season.

And it's probably fair to say that Lambert couldn't be described as a game-changing manager when it comes to the art of substitutions -- just three goals have been scored by substitutes during the 96 top-flight games Lambert has overseen.

According to Lambert it's not just his shot-shy team that are responsible for Villa's goal drought.

'There's been some good goalkeeping in games and some poor finishing,' Lambert told reporters ahead of the Boxing Day game against Swansea -- a match that Villa lost 1-0.

'It's not a lack of confidence. That's just the way it is.

'Things have gone against us in the last third, there's been good goalkeeping.

'But if the lads keep creating chances they will go in.

'I don't have a problem -- as long as they keep going into those areas to miss them.'

Villa have now gone three league games without a goal -- the last time the opposition net bulged in a league match was on December 20 in the 1-1 home draw against Manchester United.

Their goal in that match was scored by Christian Benteke, a Belgian striker who actually does know where the net is, but has only played 10 league games due to injury and suspension.

The 24-year-old's record of 37 goals in 79 games since joining Villa in 2012 is impressive, making Villa's difficulties all the more baffling.

If you have the misfortune of watching Villa this weekend, spare a thought for the forlorn Benteke.

History shows that Villa are not alone in their Premier League impotence and it's a story that might just provide a ray of hope for Villa's long suffering supporters.

Everton matched Villa's uninspiring total at the same stage of the 2005-06 campaign, although the Merseyside club did give their supporters something to cheer about in the remaining 18 games of that season by scoring 23 goals.

Remarkably, two teams have registered lowing goalscoring totals at this stage of a Premier League season. Derby and Manchester City both had just 10 goals after 20 games of the 1995-96 and 2007-08 seasons respectively.



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