The 2013-14 season was Aston Villa's 22nd season in the Premier League. It was the club's 103rd season; and their 26th consecutive season in the top flight. The club was managed by Paul Lambert, in his second season in charge. It was the last season in which Aston Villa did not receive a single red card.
Lambert's side began the season brightly, with a 3–1 win over Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on 17 August. Towards the end of 2013, the performances worsened greatly, especially home form, and Lambert was criticised by many fans and pundits for putting out a counter-attacking side with no plan B. Possession stats were biased towards the opposition in many games, including at home to Swansea; Villa had less than 30 per cent of possession in a game which ended 1–1.
In the new year Villa lost 2–1 at home to Sheffield United, a team two divisions below them, marking the fourth consecutive year that Lambert has been eliminated from the FA Cup by lower league opposition. Lambert made headlines by claiming that "many Premier League clubs could do without the distraction of the FA Cup if they were being honest." He subsequently defended his comments, claiming they were "taken out of context."
There were debuts for Jack Grealish (185), Leandro Bacuna (116), Jores Okore (38), Libor Kozák (20), Jed Steer (19), Antonio Luna (17), Aleksandar Tonev (17), Ryan Bertrand (16), Grant Holt (10), Callum Robinson (4), Nicklas Helenius (3), and Janoi Donacien.
Pre-season
The club announced its pre-season plans would begin with a tour of Germany. The tour took place between 10 and 14 July 2013 and saw Villa play three games against SV Rodinghausen,SC Paderborn and VfL Bochum, all which finished 1–1. The club then returned to England to play four more games against Wycombe Wanderers (finished 2–2), Luton Town(finished 2–0 to Luton), Crewe Alexandra (finished 5–1 to Villa) and Walsall (finished 5–0 to Villa). The penultimate pre-season game saw Villa travel to the Republic of Ireland for a match against Shamrock Rovers (finished 2–0 to Villa), before a match at Villa Park against Málaga (finished 3–2 to Villa), completed the schedule.
The Premier League fixtures were announced on 19 June, and Villa faced Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the first game of the season on 17 August. Coincidentally, this repeated the opening day fixture of the 2006–07 season. Villa then hosted Liverpool a week later in their first top flight home game of the season. The first West Midlands derby of the season, against West Bromwich Albion, was played at The Hawthorns on 23 November, with the return game at Villa Park taking place on 28 January 2014. Villa faced the first of the promoted clubs on 5 October, with a game against Hull City at the KC Stadium. Games against Cardiff City and Crystal Palace take place at Villa Park on 9 November and 26 December respectively.
Transfer summary On 7 June, Bulgarian winger Aleksandar Tonev agreed to join the club from Lech Poznań, with the fee rumoured at £2.5 million, to become their first signing of the summer. On 13 June, Villa continued recruiting players early as they signed both Jores Okore and Leandro Bacuna from Nordsjælland and Groningen respectively. Okore, a 20-year-old Danish international, stated"I want to bring something new to our game and really help the team into a new era.' He also acknowledged 'we have a good coach and this is a really good club. This is the right club for me, I feel it straight away." Upon his arrival, Bacuna said, "It's a new beginning for me, a new step and I'm looking forward to being part of this young, hungry team we have at Villa." Villa's fourth signing was confirmed five days later, as Nicklas Helenius signed a three-year deal and they then completed their fifth signing with left-back Antonio Luna sealing a move on20 June. On 26 June, the club announced they had agreed a deal with Norwich City to sign goalkeeper Jed Steer to serve as back-up to Brad Guzan. The 20-year-old will join on a free transfer on 1 July.
It was announced that Jean Makoun would be the first player to leave Villa in the summer, as Rennes made his loan move from the previous season permanent on 30 March 2013.The player officially left on 1 July. On 5 June, Richard Dunne, Eric Lichaj and Andy Marshall left the club after being released from the first-team as their contracts had expired.Four academy players: Callum Barrett, Daniel Devine, Josh Barton and Courtney Cameron were also released. Additionally, Simon Dawkins returned to Tottenham Hotspur after his loan had finished. On 22 June, the club confirmed that Brett Holman's contract had been terminated by mutual consent, freeing the player to join UAE team Al-Nasr. Young defenderDerrick Williams became the next player to leave the club, after he turned down a new deal with Villa to join Bristol City.
On 8 July, reports surfaced that Christian Benteke had handed in a transfer request at Villa. This was later confirmed by the club, who stated that he will be allowed to leave if a suitable offer is made "within an appropriate timeframe". Just 11 days later (19 July), Benteke made a U-turn and withdrew his transfer request, simultaneously signing a new four-year deal with club.On 8 August, after signing a new contract in the summer, 19-year-old forward Graham Burke joined Shrewsbury Town on loan until January 2014. Two days later (10 August), the last season's NextGen captain, Samir Carruthers, joined League One side Milton Keynes Dons on loan until January. On 16 August, record signing Darren Bent joined Fulham on an initial season-long loan. Nathan Delfouneso re-joined Blackpool on loan, until 1 January, on the same day.
On transfer deadline day Villa signed Czech forward Libor Kozák, the top scorer in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League, from Lazio. He joined on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be between £5–7 million. Barry Bannan left the club, after nine years, to join Crystal Palace for an undisclosed fee and Stephen Ireland joined Stoke City on a season-long loan.
August MonthGamesWonDrewLostScoredConcededPointsOtherAugust4202743Progression to League Cup third round
The draw for the 2013–14 League Cup second round took place on 8 August. Villa faced Rotherham United of League One at Villa Park, on 28 August.
Villa began the season with a 1–3 away win over Arsenal at Emirates Stadium, becoming the first team to beat the Gunners on the opening day in 13 years. Olivier Giroud sent the hosts into an early lead, but a Christian Benteke double and a debut goal for Antonio Luna gave Villa the victory. Four days later, Villa faced Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in a rescheduled fixture. Chelsea won 2–1 but the match saw two controversial refereeing decisions go against Villa. The first involved Branislav Ivanović (who went on to score the winner in the 73rd minute) escaping a sending off for an elbow on Christian Benteke and the second a late penalty being denied, after the ball had hit John Terry on the arm. The first game of the season at Villa Park, and also the club's third game in seven days, was against Liverpool, where a first half Daniel Sturridge goal gave the away side a 0–1 win. On 28 August, Villa made it through to the League Cup third round after beating Rotherham United 3–0. The match was also the first time in 30 competitive outings that Villa had kept a clean sheet. Villa then drew Tottenham, played on 24 September.
September MonthGamesWonDrewLostScoredConcededPointsOtherSeptember4202576Eliminated from League Cup
Villa's first game after the international break ended up in a defeat to Newcastle United. Newcastle won the match 2–1, with goals from Hatem Ben Arfa and Yoan Gouffran cancelling outChristian Benteke's equaliser. It was later confirmed that defender Jores Okore had sustained a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury during the match, and would be out for up to nine months. The next match saw Paul Lambert win again at Carrow Road against former club Norwich City, as Villa ran out 1–0 winners. Libor Kozák got the winner, his first goal for the club, just seconds after replacing the injured Benteke. It also marked the first time in 26 league matches that Villa had kept a clean sheet. Three days later, it was confirmed that Benteke would be out for up to six weeks with a hip flexor injury. The day after the confirmation of Benteke's injury (26 September), Villa were eliminated from the League Cup after being beaten 0–4 by Tottenham. Villa had gone into the match with eight first team players out injured. However the result didn't dishearten the players, as the next match resulted in a 3–2 win against Manchester City. City had twice led through Yaya Touré and Edin Džeko but goals from Karim El Ahmadi, Leandro Bacuna and Andreas Weimann saw Villa earn their first points at home of the season.
October MonthGamesWonDrewLostScoredConcededPointsOctober3012041
An uneventful 0–0 draw at Hull City followed the Manchester City victory, as Villa recorded their first draw and second clean sheet of the season. After a two-week international break, Villa returned to league action against Tottenham Hotspur. The game finished 0–2 to Spurs, after goals from Andros Townsend and Roberto Soldado. Christian Benteke made his comeback from injury after coming on as a 61st-minute substitute. This defeat was followed by another, again at home, as Everton left Villa Park with three points courtesy of a 2–0 win. Benteke had a first half penalty saved by Tim Howard and Villa were made to rue this missed opportunity, as two second half goals from Romelu Lukaku and Leon Osman sealed an Everton victory.
November MonthGamesWonDrewLostScoredConcededPointsNovember4130426
A 0–0 draw against West Ham United extended Villa's winless, and goalless, run to four games. This run was eventually ended in the next match with a 2–0 victory over Cardiff City at Villa Park. Leandro Bacuna and Libor Kozák both scored their second goals for the club and Villa kept their first clean sheet at home for 17 games, as well as first back-to-back clean sheets since November 2012. Villa returned to action, after another international break, in the first West Midlands derby of the season against West Bromwich Albion. West Brom raced into a 2–0 lead within 11 minutes after two goals from Shane Long but Villa responded in the second half as Karim El Ahmadi pulled one back. Ashley Westwood then rescued a point for Villa with a goal from 25-yards out, his first for the club, as the match finished 2–2. Villa finished the month with a 0–0 draw against Sunderland at Villa Park.
December MonthGamesWonDrewLostScoredConcededPointsDecember61145114
Villa produced a great result in their first game of December, by beating Southampton 2–3 at St Mary's. Southampton twice equalised after Villa had led through Gabriel Agbonlahor's first goal of the season and then a Libor Kozák header. Fabian Delph grabbed the winner ten minutes from time with a 25-yard strike, his first ever Premier League goal. However four days later Villa suffered only their second away defeat of the season, after a disappointing performance in an eventual 2–0 defeat against Fulham. On the same day, Villa drew Sheffield United in the third round of the FA Cup. Manchester United were the visitors in the next game, and they left Villa Park with all three points after a 0–3 victory. A brace from Danny Welbeck and a third from Tom Cleverley gave the champions their first win in four games. Villa then slipped to a third consecutive defeat as they were beaten 2–1 by Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium. Charlie Adam and Peter Crouch scored either side of Libor Kozák's fourth of the season.