Aston Villa’s play-off hopes are nearly defunct after their midweek defeat to Brentford.

Neal Maupay’s late strike rubbed salt into Aston Villa’s wounds as Dean Smith’s old side played his new one off the park at his old stomping ground. 

Jonathan Kodija was given just six minutes off the bench in that match, despite both Anwar El Ghazi and Albert Adomah underperforming.

Kodija has managed 175 minutes of Championship action in 2019, but has gained just two starts in that time period, so why does Dean Smith continue to overlook a player with six goals to his name this season?

Despite the late heroics at home to Sheffield United, Tammy Abraham is the only attack minded player who can hold his head high in 2019, with the others - El Ghazi and Adomah especially, underperforming.

It was telling that Andre Green was ahead of Kodija in the pecking order after Friday night in terms of Smith’s substitutes, despite the fact Green played a huge part in the comeback.

While Kodjija may not fire Villa to the play-offs, he is surely deserved of a chance ahead of the previous mentioned duo. 

Kodija has a unique running style, and knows where the goal is, but has scored no goals since December, mainly due to his exile from the first team.

Smith’s side are now seven points off the play-offs entering this weekend, with many others having a game in hand. 

Although the play-offs are still possible, judging by how the team are playing, they seem unlikely.

Therefore, surely Kodija should be given a chance to reimpress the boss.