By 
Aston Villa have entered the automatic spots in the Sky Bet Championship in the latter half of a season for the first time since their relegation to the league in 2016.
This comes as the Villans triumphed in a 2-0 derby win against Birmingham City.
Albert Adomah scored after a well worked team goal, slotting perfectly into the left-hand corner.
Conor Hourihane then scored a screamer of a half-volley to give Villa a comfortable lead.
The automatic spots are now occupied by two West Midlands teams, with Wolves sitting at the peak of the table.
Villa are in incredibly good form of late, and are unbeaten since December 30th.
This run has allowed Villa to climb from the foot of the play-offs into an automatic promotion position.
From this point onwards
From this point, Villa need to solidify their advantage above teams like Derby, Fulham and Cardiff, all of which they are yet to play their second games against.
It is quite possible that Villa will leave it late in stereotypical fashion and it could fall to the game against Derby for Villa to make the position truly their own.
With promotion a very likely possibility, the Villa boys need to take this in their stride and march forward the way they have been in their last six games.
Albert Adomah, Jack Grealish, Mile Jedinak and Robert Snodgrass were all an integral part of how Villa played today, and competition for places within the squad has never been more hot.
Each of the above was fouled a number of times, but local lad Jack Grealish took the brunt of the aggression – taking away the Man of the Match Award for his troubles.
Aston Villa face tough opponents in their next two games, facing play-off hopefuls Fulham and Preston in the space of three days.
