Villa By the Numbers: the goal drought continues

Welcome back to Villa By the Numbers, our weekly look at some Aston Villa statistics, removed from their context and then explained. This week, I try to expand my horizons, but it's really difficult to focus on anything except the extended goalless drought the team are undergoing.

1

The number of goals Aston Villa have averaged per match. A number that has - with only the Manchester City match as an exception - fallen after every match this season. Take a look at this trend:

Las season, Aston Villa averaged 1.24 goals per match, and this year's club is significantly better, so expect this number to go up. But for now, it's pretty depressing. If you're looking for a reason, look no further than...

285
35
3

Aston Villa's goalless drought in three numbers. When they take the pitch on Saturday, they will have not scored in 285 minutes of play. Put another way, it means that they haven't found the back of the net in 35 days, and have been held scoreless for three straight matches.

353

Only once last season did they have such a long stretch of futility, when they went 353 minutes without scoring between the last goal of the 1-3 win at Anfield on December 15 and the first goal of the 2-2 draw at Swansea on January 1. You will likely remember that as "the single worst three match stretch anyone of us can remember," and it included 15 goals allowed. So, at least things aren't quite as bad this time around.

If Villa haven't scored by the 68th minute on Saturday they'll have surpassed last year's squad for extended lack of punch.

97

The number of Premier League goals scored since Andi Weimann put Villa ahead of Manchester City on September 28. The first was Jordon Mutch's stoppage time winner for Cardiff against Fulham. The latest was Fernando Torres' winner for Chelsea against Manchester City on Sunday. Am I too fixated on this streak? It's just utterly fascinating to me.

13

Aston Villa's rank (tied with Fulham and Manchester United) in the league in goals allowed, with 12. Thanks to Southampton being astonishing and Sunderland being terrible, Villa are equidistant from allowing the fewest goals in the league and allowing the most. Seriously, at this point Southampton's 3 allowed and Sunderland's 21 are equally stupid numbers. In fact, let's look at those a bit more in depth:

270
38.571

The number of minutes (on average) between goals allowed by Southampton and Sunderland respectively. For Sunderland, that's a goal every 38 minutes 34 seconds. Good lord. Mark November 30 on your calendar. That's when Villa finally get to play Sunderland. Christian Benteke's hat-trick will get a hat-trick.