Ray Houghton admitted that the new year had brought a stinging lesson for his team whose title chase has been weakening over the previous few weeks.
Ray Houghton said “We have got to find our feet away from home if we want to be taken seriously as title challengers. When we were at Liverpool and going to tight away matches, we were able to knuckle down and grab a point. We are not doing that anymore.”
Ron Atkinson’s men had suffered double disaster with losses to Southampton and Crystal Palace and Houghton knew that they were not coping well with the pressure. Aston Villa captain Kevin Richardson warned Chelsea of a backlash.
Kevin Richardson said “We are still only a point behind Manchester United. We will be going to the Stamford bridge to take all three points.”