Are we going to do ‘a Fulham?’

[Damo70]

I reckon we will finish above Brucecastle.

Top four (not necessarily in this order) will be Man City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal.

Chelsea and Man U will complete the top six.

West Ham, Leicester, Wolves, Everton and Watford are all in the middle group, chasing the final European spot and maybe finishing above one of the two above if they have a really good season. Though Wolves could slip into the bottom group if they prove unable to cope with the demands of playing in Europe.

That leaves us, Brighton, Burnley, Bournemouth, Palace, Southampton, Sheff United, Norwich and Newcastle battling to avoid the drop, but any could possibly move into the group above and finish midtable.

If you forced me to guess, I'd say Newcastle, Southampton and Brighton will drop.

I would go Norwich, Sheff U and Brighton for the drop. I reckon Palace and Newcastle will complete the bottom five. I think this could also be a Premier League season too far for Burnley and Bournemouth and they will both struggle.  Unlike a lot of people I happen to think Southampton will do enough to stay out of trouble. So that is seven teams I fancy us to finish above.

[UK Redsox]

I'm expecting Villa to be in the relegation battle.

I know that he's the best player but I worry about Villa's dependence on Jack. An injury or loss of form for him and Villa could struggle

[GordonCowansisthegreatest]

I'm expecting Villa to be in the relegation battle.

I know that he's the best player but I worry about Villa's dependence on Jack. An injury or loss of form for him and Villa could struggle

Hopefully it will be debatable if Jack is still our best player once we have all the new faces in!
Whatever happens, I'm fairly confident that the opposition will have more than him to worry about.

[AllanW]

I would go Norwich, Sheff U and Brighton for the drop. I reckon Palace and Newcastle will complete the bottom five.

Yep. Those are my bottom five predictions as well. Depending on their transfer business in the next 3 weeks though AshleyToon could drag themselves out of the pit but I don't think the other 4 can.

We'll be better than those 4 plus a few of the other mid-range teams if us fans can help create a cauldron of pain at Villa Park for when they visit. We'll nick enough away points to add to 10 or 11 home and away wins to get us over the line. 

Home; 8 wins, 3 draws, 8 losses
Away; 3 wins, 4 draws, 12 losses

gives us 40 points.

[KRS]

Stating the obvious but it all depends on how the new signings settle in and if they are as good as expected. These signings have been made to bridge the gap in quality between Championship and Premier League so if they aren’t up to standard then results will go accordingly.

At the moment, we’re also looking short of goals so we need to sign another striker otherwise we’ll struggle to put wins on the board.

[themossman]

A prolific striker would be great but I don’t think we’re necessarily short of goals if our additions in other areas allow our goal scoring midfielders to flourish (I’d say we have a lot of goal threat in midfield and I have a suspicion Jack in particular will score a few this season).

[AllanW]

Stating the obvious but it all depends on how the new signings settle in and if they are as good as expected. These signings have been made to bridge the gap in quality between Championship and Premier League so if they aren’t up to standard then results will go accordingly.

Yes that's the judgment we're all making but remember that 'PL quality' is not one thing, it's a range of top, middle and bottom. I'm predicting that, even if some of the signings don't click quickly or perfectly, we have enough to start the season on the right lines for achieving those wins/draws/losses and our coaching staff and backroom team will adjust through the day-in-day-out of the season and the January transfer window to get the results at the end.

We'll win and draw, both home and away, more against the bottom clubs, less against the middle clubs but still not zero and we'll take almost nothing from the Top 6. 

At the moment, we’re also looking short of goals so we need to sign another striker otherwise we’ll struggle to put wins on the board.

Agreed. Hassan and Maupay hopefully incoming along with Luiz to add to the midfield.

[robbo1874]

I’m glad we got the loan targets back- would’ve been much happier if we could have got Tuanzebe and Abrahams as well. But wasn’t to be. My fear is that if a few of the new signings freeze, or take a while to settle then we could be struggling a bit, come Christmas. Still think that we’ll do OK, but who knows?

[paul_e]

I’m glad we got the loan targets back- would’ve been much happier if we could have got Tuanzebe and Abrahams as well. But wasn’t to be. My fear is that if a few of the new signings freeze, or take a while to settle then we could be struggling a bit, come Christmas. Still think that we’ll do OK, but who knows?

I'm not bothered about Tuanzebe, I think Konsa looks like a decent replacement and Engels could be even better if he adjusts to the pace of the league. I'll accept I might be proven wrong on this but with his injury record I'm just not convinced that Tuanzebe on loan for another year would've been a good idea and I definitely feel they'd have asked for an insane fee if we wanted to make him a permanent signing.

Tammy would've been useful but I'm not sure you'd start him regularly and I don't know if he'd have left the Chelsea bench to join ours.


On the goals in the squad, as I said, if the players in the front 3 can net about 30 goals for the season I'd back the rest of the team to get about 20 and that will be enough to put us firmly in mid-table.

[Damo70]

I think the last time we got promoted in 1988 we made three signings. Chris Price, Derek Mountfield and the return of Sid.

[cdbearsfan]

Our nett spend was less than half a million. It's a bit different this time!

[Bad English]

It would be nice to emulate that team by finishing second in 2021.

[cdbearsfan]

England can sod off if they think they're taking Smith, though!

[Toronto Villa]

TS just spent 15 min on are we doing a Fulham.

Conclusion - They have no idea if we are. Mings and Wes are big gambles. We won’t score any goals. We might be ok at the back.

I won’t get those 15 min back

[oldhill_avfc]

48 was the average goals scored by teams in the Premier League last season who finished between 7th and 17th.

Dean Smith wants goals to come from all angles and from all over the pitch. Not just from our main striker.

I guess our goals for next season will be something like:

Wesley 12
McGinn 8
Jack 8
El Ghazi 8
Trezequet/Maupay/Kodjia or Whoever 8
Defenders 6
Hourihane 4

That's 54 goals in 38 games. Nicely spread around and not unrealistic to expect from them players. Comfortable mid table performance!!!!!!

I wouldn't want to rely on Grealish & McGinn scoring 25% more goals than last year in a stronger division in fewer matches.  I'd say it also very optimistic to expect Wesley and ElGhazi to score 20 between them as well. 

Your 'whoever' category is key - hence the need for another striker.