Back on September of 2016, the 28 year old Belgian defender Ritchie de Laet sustained an injury which forced him to stay out of the pitch for over 10 months and it wasn’t until a few days ago when Ritchie de Laet was able to make a full return for Aston Villa’s League Championship match against Reading.

Aston Villa’s Steve Bruce said: “It was good to see Ritchie De Laet back out there on the pitch. He’s been out for about 11 months. He’s done everything in pre-season and I thought he was ready for the game. I thought he did okay.”

This was the statement released by the head coach of Aston Villa as he talked about Ritchie de Laet’s return.

Even with the return of the 28 year old Belgian defender, it did not stop Aston Villa from suffering another defeat as Reading came out on top with a 2-1 triumph.

During the previous season of 2016-17 of the English League Championship, Aston Villa finished at the 13th spot and now the start of this new season, it seems like they could end up even in a lower position after suffering successive defeats against Cardiff City and Reading in their opening matches of the season.

Going from competing in successive seasons in the top tier English Premier League to dropping and struggling into the division 2 tier League Championship is a tough blow for any club to sustain.

The 2017-18 season of the English League Championship is the 2nd campaign of Steve Bruce at the helm of Aston Villa. The English manager will be attempting to push Aston Villa back to the Premier League but after losing twice in his opening matches of the season, this is not the way that Steve Bruce and his squad would have wanted to start.