Contradictheory: How the Covid-19 lockdown helped Aston Villa avoid relegation

Aston Villa's head coach Dean Smith (right) with players during a break in the match against West Ham United. Smith used the Covid-19 lockdown to motivate his players. — AP

As an (almost) lifelong supporter of English football club Aston Villa, the truism is that they never fail to disappoint. Except for just recently, when they spectacularly did the opposite.

Two weeks ago, with four games left to play, the club was still two rungs away from safety. It had been 173 days since Aston Villa had won a game. At least one analytic site calculated the probability of Villa being relegated to the division below at 93%.