Sam Allardyce has threatened to strip Jake Livermore of the captaincy for the reckless challenge that means West Bromwich Albion's new manager must make history to keep his relegation-free record intact.
No team has avoided the drop in the Premier League era with fewer than eight points from their opening 14 games. Albion are stuck on seven, three points from safety.
In his first game since replacing the sacked Slaven Bilic, Allardyce's side trailed after only five minutes to Anwar El Ghazi's strike and were reduced to 10 men eight minutes before half-time when captain Jake Livermore was sent off on VAR review for an ugly tackle on Jack Grealish, meaning he will be banned for three matches.
West Brom were aggrieved when a bad challenge by Kortney Hause on Grady Diangana soon afterwards warranted only a booking, but Villa were far superior and late goals from Bertrand Traore and El Ghazi – from the penalty spot – underlined that.
Asked about the captaincy, Allardyce said: 'If whoever has the armband for the next three games can handle it, they can keep it for me.
'This is the third sending-off of the season, and you cannot keep getting sent off in our position.
'I just won't accept another sending-off otherwise we'll have no chance of getting out of trouble.
'The last thing we needed is having our captain suspended for three games because he did a reckless thing on the pitch.
'You don't need to make the tackle like that. He's an experienced player but he's decided for whatever reason to lunge, and we know today with VAR you fear the worst. I had to agree with that decision.
'But with the [Hause] tackle I think we might've got the same decision, he's jumped right down his shin on his ankle.
'I've only been here a minute and I'm already talking about VAR which I didn't really want to.'
This is Allardyce's eighth Premier League job and may well be his toughest. Albion offered next to nothing in attack and there is little money to spend next month, while their next fixture is away to Liverpool on Sunday.
As for Villa, this was their fifth away win in six matches and they have their best points total at this stage of a top-flight campaign since 2001-02.
With Jack Grealish inspirational again, they will feel European football is within reach. 'Jack was fantastic and he looks like he is playing on the playground with his mates,' said Smith.