This is what makes English football both beautiful and brutal.
One month ago - just one month - Unai Emery was talking about Aston Villa winning the Premier League. Not competing. Not dreaming. Actually winning it. The team was flying high, sitting near the top of the table, playing some of the best football in England.
Fast forward to today, and after a crushing loss to rock-bottom Wolves at Molineux Stadium, Emery is singing a very different tune.
"One month ago I was dreaming about maybe winning the Premier League," the Villa manager said after the defeat. "Now we are in the average to be in the top five."
Let that sink in. From title contenders to "average" for a top-five finish. In one month. That's not just a rough patch - that's a spectacular collapse.
What happened? How does a team go from dreaming of trophies to fighting just to stay in the Champions League places? Welcome to the Premier League, where momentum can evaporate faster than you can say "false dawn."
The loss to Wolves was particularly damaging. You're talking about a team at the absolute bottom of the table, a team that's been struggling all season, a team that Villa should have beaten even on their worst day. Instead, Villa walked into Molineux and got turned over.
That's not just a bad result - that's a statement about where this team's head is right now. When you lose to the team in last place, you're not title contenders. You're not even really top-four material. You're a team trying to remember how to win.
Emery has done fantastic work at Villa. He took a club that was flirting with relegation and turned them into European competitors. He's got them playing attractive football and competing with the big boys. But January's high has turned into February's hangover, and the timing couldn't be worse.
