Five defeats at home before Christmas is relegation form. Two goals at home in six games is relegation form. But now - were we in any doubt - we've really hit the point that decides when the relegation dogfight has started; that is the dreaded 'play well but unluckily lose to a fluke goal' scenario. Heads down everyone - we're in a battle!

Those wonderful Soccernet statisticians tell me that West Ham had twenty shots on goal of which eight were on target, but sometimes it seemed much more as Bellamy terrorised the Villa defence and forced Brad Fieldel into several top notch saves.

There is no doubt, Villa's American 'keeper was the Man of the Match here as his sheer physical presence seemed to deter Carlton Cole; a man low on confidence and currently fighting goal-scoring demons that aren't helped by having a solid wall in front of him. A more clinical finisher in the fashion of Zola himself would have surely taken one or two goals away from these positions though and what Gianfranco decides to do about this during the transfer window will surely decide how this season is going to pan out.

As it was though, West Ham fans were not only forced to witness their toothless team fail in front of goal again, but also watch in horror as a speculative cross from James Milner take a deflection off of Lucas Neill to sail over Robert Green's head for the only goal in the 78th minute.

West Ham had most of the posession and the better chances but it was high-flying Villa who snatched the points. The other relegation dogfight counter is when people start telling you things like this go against you when you're at the bottom.

Happy Christmas everyone!