May 2014

[badluckeric(gates)]

All 3 promoted teams won't be relegated. De Canio will take Sunderland down and this year Fullham will struggle big time.

[Legion]

9th

[Gregorys Boy]

12th would be fine as long as we greatly improve on our points from last time.  We go for a tenth place finish.

[danlanza]

Sorry. Top six only.

[warleyboy]

I cannot see any reason why we cannot finish 7th at least.
I feel we can score every game against any opposition, this is going to be a great season with a capital one cup final....
It's all in the crystal ball you know..

[eastie]

I cannot see any reason why we cannot finish 7th at least.
I feel we can score every game against any opposition, this is going to be a great season with a capital one cup final....
It's all in the crystal ball you know..

Totally agree.

[not3bad]

But oh for the days when at this stage, you knew that if everything clicked villa would challenge for the title or even the top four. I wonder if we'll ever see that again? I suspect not. Unless we get bought out by a sheikh

When would you say this was a realistic period? 

Late 70s/early 80s.

[paul_e]

I don't know how unrealistic it is.  If you try to go toe-to-toe with the big boys you need sheikh money to make it, but if we can get almost all of these youngsters to buy into the project and stay together for 2-3years we've got a good chance of crashing the party.  I hope, for the good of the game in general as well as us, that it does work.  Someone needs to get in there without the huge spending to show that it's an alternative.  It would be particularly great to do it with the likes of Grealish, Robinson, Donacien, etc in the squad along with Clark, gabby, etc.

[Concrete John]

I don't know how unrealistic it is.  If you try to go toe-to-toe with the big boys you need sheikh money to make it, but if we can get almost all of these youngsters to buy into the project and stay together for 2-3years we've got a good chance of crashing the party.  I hope, for the good of the game in general as well as us, that it does work.  Someone needs to get in there without the huge spending to show that it's an alternative.  It would be particularly great to do it with the likes of Grealish, Robinson, Donacien, etc in the squad along with Clark, gabby, etc.

That's the main problem as if we start to look like we might crash the party, then that will mean we have a few players playing to a CL level.  And we all know what happens when you get that...........

[Irish villain]

Looking at the fixtures, I would be expecting us to get some fourteen points from our last eight games. They are a decent set of fixtures to finish on.

In the Houllier year we picked up 15 points from a harder run in of eight games to finish ninth on 48 points.  In the McLeish year, we picked up five points from our last eight games to finish sixteenth on 38 points. If we can be on 40 points minimum by the time we play Stoke on 22 March you'd think we would be good for a late charge for top eight. Equally, if things don't quite pan out as we hope, if we end up in or around the same 33 points with eight games to go as in '11 and '12 you'd even still back us to get up to around 47 points and a possible ninth or tenth.

[LeeS]

Looking at the fixtures, I would be expecting us to get some fourteen points from our last eight games. They are a decent set of fixtures to finish on.

In the Houllier year we picked up 15 points from a harder run in of eight games to finish ninth on 48 points.  In the McLeish year, we picked up five points from our last eight games to finish sixteenth on 38 points. If we can be on 40 points minimum by the time we play Stoke on 22 March you'd think we would be good for a late charge for top eight. Equally, if things don't quite pan out as we hope, if we end up in or around the same 33 points with eight games to go as in '11 and '12 you'd even still back us to get up to around 47 points and a possible ninth or tenth.

If we are on 33points  by the Stoke game then this season will have been another miserable struggle. I hope we can do better than that.

[junxs]

Bit predictable to relegate Cardiff, Hull & Palace

Its predictable that people predict it, but I heard on the radio recently that its never actually happened in the premier league era where all 3 promoted sides have been relegated the very next season.
In fact theres been occasions where all 3 promoted sides have survived.

[nigel]

So 9th then nigel?

Ha Ha  I should have added 'Including'

[eamonn]

I've got a funny feeling Southampton could come out of nowhere to do what Newcastle did the season before last.

[Concrete John]

I've got a funny feeling Southampton could come out of nowhere to do what Newcastle did the season before last.

Can't see it - bottom half for me.

Taking Villa out of the equation for a minute, the side I can see improving and surprising a few is Fulham.  Especailly if they can fit Bent and Berbatov into the side together.