It is reasonable enough to have doubts over whether Aston Villa can continue to make progress. It is still unknown as to who will even be at the club next season, and every year in the English Premier League is going to be a difficult endeavor, regardless of how many sides are having an off-year.
There is also seemingly something of a course at Villa. When the side really needs a result, something drastic tends to go wrong, and the supporters are left almost expecting something catastrophic to happen during each major fixture.
The reality of the matter is that for most clubs, unless there is a one-off performance of some sort, it is incredibly difficult to pull off a clutch victory. While some teams are used to having a certain level of success or are at least expected to, in reality a lot has to go right each time anyone goes on to win either the league or any of the other competitions.
To an extent, someone has to play poorly, and fortune has to be favoring the team on the day, repeatedly, to get that ultimate triumph that everyone is looking for.
While it has been since 1996 when Villa won the then-called Football League Cup, there can be a certain sense of inevitable doom. There are two reasons to feel overall optimistic about where the club is.
The law of averages, for one, would dictate, particularly after seeing some of the draws and how the matches unfolded, that luck is going to have to begin to be on Villa's side soon enough at this point. It has been incredible to watch the multitude of ways in which Villa have seen an opportunity slip through their grasp. Although it isn't the most comforting to think about it like that, there has to be a turnaround in that department soon enough.
Trust in the ability of the Aston Villa boss
More immediately within the club's control is what Unai Emery is continuing to do. While they are looking for ways to help the PSR issue, there are going to be plenty of options throughout the lineup that Emery and Monchi have handpicked that they want to see performing for Villa.
When revisiting how the last Manchester United or FA Cup semi-final encounter against Crystal Palace went, there is likely to be very little that would further infuriate Emery than losing in the way that Villa did. The Spaniard knows how to make the needed adjustments both during the preparation and during the match itself to ensure that the breakthrough comes for Villa.