If you are fan of goal-packed football matches look away now. And whatever you do steer well clear of Aston Villa.
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.
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.
#avfc Goals scored in Premier League on first day of 2015 – 33; Goals scored by Aston Villa in the whole of 2014 – 33
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.
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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.
