Aston Villa 0 West Brom 2
by Simon Williams
at Villa Park

ASTON VILLA’S chances of a return to the Premier League look to be on hold for another season following a home defeat to local rivals West Bromwich Albion.

The Villans were relegated from the top tier of English football in 2016 but narrowly missed out on a return at the end of last season following defeat to Fulham in the play-off final at Wembley under Steve Bruce.

In October last year, with the team sitting 12th in the table after 11 games, Bruce was sacked and replaced by boyhood Villa fan Dean Smith.