Aston Villa's play-off hopes were dealt a real blow at the weekend, as they slipped to a 2-0 defeat to local rivals, West Brom at Villa Park. 

Quick-fire goals before half-time from Hal Robson-Kanu and Jay Rodriguez proved to be enough on the day, and it sees the Baggies keep the pressure on the promotion chasing sides in the Championship.

Dean Smith's side are now sat 10th in the league table, and are nine points adrift of the top six, with their promotion rivals having games in hand.

Villa will need to address this recent slump in form, otherwise there is no chance that they will be challenging for a top six finish by May.

The Villa Park faithful will be developing concerns after this loss, and there are sure to be questions about whether Dean Smith is up to the task as manager of the club.

But what have we learnt about Villa from this defeat?

Find out below....

There's evidently a lack of confidence in the squad

Villa are now winless in their last four league games, which includes back-t0-back defeats in the space of three days.

The quality in the squad is definitely there, but there's evidently a lack of confidence going through this Aston Villa side at this moment in time, which will need to be addressed as quickly as possible.

Tyrone Mings is proving to be an excellent signing 

Tyrone Mings has been a rare bright spark in recent weeks since his arrival at the club, and is proving to be an excellent bit of business by Dean Smith.

The Bournemouth loanee has formed an impressive partnership with Tommy Elphick in the centre of the Villa defence, and he'll be crucial to the side if they are to have any chance of reaching the play-offs.

Goalkeeping crisis? 

First-choice goalkeeper, Lovre Kalinic went off injured at half time in the defeat, with Jed Steer taking his place in the starting XI.

It leaves Dean Smith short of options between the sticks, and he won't be rushing Kalinic back into action, with the shot-stopper suffering a head injury late on in the first-half.