Journalist says multiple Aston Villa stars in addition to Douglas Luiz not "playing well enough"

Journalist Dean Jones thinks a number of players have dipped below their usual level at Aston Villa in recent weeks, including midfielder Douglas Luiz.

Luiz has been linked with a move away from Villa Park as Arsenal have taken an interest in the Brazilian, but Jones believes he is struggling to find his best form for Steven Gerrard’s side.

The Villans won four of their first six games under Gerrard to climb the table after the departure of Dean Smith in November.

However, they have only won one of their last seven top-flight fixtures, and have lost their last two matches without scoring a goal.

As things stand, Villa still look relatively comfortable in 13th, but they could be dragged into a relegation battle if they aren’t careful in the coming weeks.

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Jones feels Luiz has been some way off his best during Villa’s dismal run of form, but he has claimed the 23-year-old is not the only one who has looked off the pace.

Talking about why Villa have been unable to pick up points over the past few weeks, Jones told GIVEMESPORT: “Certainly, there’s three or four away from him (Luiz) as well that aren’t playing well enough.”

They will certainly hope so.

At one stage, it looked like Villa were looking up the table and potentially targeting a top-half finish or even a late push for Europe.

The chances of that happening may be starting to slip away now, though, and they need to focus on getting back to winning ways.

This weekend, they travel to Brighton, who are also coming off the back of a shock defeat, having been comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Burnley last Saturday. Villa then play Southampton and Leeds in their next two matches.

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