It's really difficult to know where to start with this piece.

On the back of a defeat, it's always significantly harder to find an angle that you actually want to talk about. 

It would be easy to pick apart the performance against Aston Villa, with a host of individual displays there to be dissected.

I could comfortably write a 300 word diatribe about the limitations of Oleksandr Zinchenko, and it no doubt would strike a chord with many readers.

It isn't, however, the topic that has dominated my thoughts. When I left the ground, I wasn't angry at our performance.

I was frustrated and little bit sad, but not angry.

I was though dismayed at the state of our league.

Football in this country has become a case of nothing other than perfection being enough.

We have been on such a run since the New Year that a single blip should be permitted, yet despite the gap at the top separating us and Manchester City by just two points, it feels as if our race might be done.

There may yet be some twists and turns, but yesterday felt pivotal.

The role of billion pounds investors into clubs is no doubt a contributing factor. Chelsea started it, but Manchester City have taken over the mantle of the financial juggernaut that cannot be displaced.

For the sake of football, opposition fans should be willing the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool to topple City and show that football in England and to an extent in Europe, can still be competitive.

Yesterday we were subjected to gloats about our clubs inability to win trophies, from a team that, bar the Europa Conference League, may never come close to a major honour again.

This is the stark reality of what English football is at risk of becoming.

We are told consistently that this is the best league in the world, that's it's the most competitive, but with one team dominating for the past seven seasons can we really still make that argument?

Our team though have done us proud across the past two years and we should take note of the progress we've made.

Yes, we probably should have won the title last season, but naievity and pressure got the better of us.

This season we've gone on a run to put ourselves back in contention for the major honours. To be even competing with City should be a celebration of the work done behind the scenes and on the pitch.

Naturally and understandably, we want more, but sometimes some perspective is needed.

When we lost back-to-back games against West Ham and Fulham in December, no one would have predicted the run we would go on.

We've lost a single league game since, despite being midway through April.

It's an unfortunate time for that to occur, but our focus as supporters should be on getting behind the team to help them recover and keep the pressure on City and Liverpool until the very last day of the season.

We're down, we're hurting, but we are by no means out.

So I urge you, whether you're at The Emirates, sitting in an away end, or even watching at home, get behind the boys for one final push.

Let's not have any regrets from here on in.