Aston Villa: Tim Sherwood targets six wins to beat the drop

Sherwood had a 59% win rate in his 22 games in charge of Spurs

Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood has targeted six wins from the remaining 12 league games to avoid relegation.

The West Midlands club have won just five out of 26 in the league and only Leicester are below them in the table.

"The reality has to kick in that we are in a dogfight and need points as soon as possible," said Sherwood.

Sherwood, who replaced Paul Lambert as manager earlier this month, takes his side to 11th-placed Newcastle United on Saturday.

The former Tottenham manager and coach lost his first league game in charge at home to Stoke last Saturday.

Ron Vlaar fells Stoke's Victor Moses, who took the late winning penalty at Villa Park

Villa have scored just 13 league goals this season, the lowest across all four English divisions.

Sherwood added: "We have won five [league] games of football all season; we need to win six to stay in the division.

"Is it a bigger challenge than I thought? No. If we fail, we will fail trying, that's for sure."

Villa still have upcoming fixtures against the three teams immediately above them in the table - Burnley, QPR and Sunderland.

They also have away games at three of the top five - Manchester City, Manchester United and Southampton.