Champions League Contention

[Brazilian Villain]

We're now 11/1 for the title, and 4/7 on for a top 4 finish. Safe to say that we're in contention for a guaranteed CL spot next season.

Ignore the title odds but those top 4 ones look far too tight. Man United with a new coach and no Euro football, Tottenham and Newcastle out of Europe and with players coming back should all finish strong.

I'm most concerned by Tottenham who I see as our main threat to securing top 4. Think we'll finish above both Uniteds.

[Smirker]

We are in an absolutely fantastic position.

I remember I said last week after we beat Arsenal, everything just seems to be falling into place for us. I had noticed that Tottenham and Newcastle were playing each other next.

Who is playing next weekend? Liverpool vs Arsenal 😂

There is a very, very real chance we could be top on Christmas Day.

I know every fan probably thinks this, but given how many false dawns we have had while other clubs have been extremely lucky, some even winning the lottery, our club and our city needs and deserves something big.

[SoccerHQ]

Another 10 wins gets us top 4 imo.

Possible we might not need to win another away game to achieve it but let's not overcomplicate things.

[AV84]

Another 10 wins gets us top 4 imo.

Possible we might not need to win another away game to achieve it but let's not overcomplicate things.

If that's the case I'd rather win as many as possible before the European games come back around.

[Neil Hawkes]

You can quote me - or vilify me later - we are going to win this

Win what mate?

Ah, I meant the premier league.
My wine soaked brain is still catching up.

[SaddVillan]

Every Monday The Athletic discusses three of the biggest questions to arise from the weekend’s football.

Here's one of today's

ARE VILLA PERFECT FOR THE NEUTRALS?

Take yourself back to the summer, think like that August You and swirl this one around your brain for a while: there’s a pretty good chance that Aston Villa will be 10 points clear of Manchester City by the time the reigning champions next play a Premier League game on December 27.

They are almost certainly going to be top of the league by the time everyone else plays, given they face last-placed Sheffield United at home on Friday evening, and if Arsenal and Liverpool should then cancel each other out at Anfield on Saturday evening, Villa will be No 1 at Christmas. They then visit Manchester United on Boxing Day, 24 hours before City resume domestic business away at Everton.

It’s pretty wild.

The best bit about all of this from a neutral’s perspective is that Villa are a pretty easy team to get behind.

They play exciting football and they score plenty of goals. They have enough underdog elements — Ollie Watkins’ journey from lower-division life with Exeter City, John McGinn having been with them since their Championship days — to make them relatable, but have also spent £50million on a single player, so they’re never going to be underdog-y enough to be irritatingly patronised.

They have a manager in Unai Emery who is nearing the apex of a pretty excellent redemption arc, in English football anyway. They have an angry cartoon villain in goal, with Emiliano Martinez having just the right amount of pantomime to make him entertaining rather than outright dislikable, and related to that is they have just a little bit of aggro in them, as their 2-1 away win against Brentford on Sunday showed: Martinez sparking the late melee that led to his team-mate Boubacar Kamara being sent off, Watkins giving it back to a home fan who had been abusing him and his family all game. It’s all good stuff.

And even if all of that wasn’t the case, it’s great to have someone truly unexpected challenging for the title. Last season we got pretty excited that Arsenal pushed Manchester City so far, but come on: they’re Arsenal. The surprise should have been that they haven’t challenged more often since their last win in 2004, not that they were challenging at all.

This is a potential nightmare scenario for Arsenal fans: with City off the pace by their lofty standards, they might have smelt a free-ish run at the title but, instead, Emery — a manager who failed with them a few years back after coming in as Arsene Wenger’s successor — might usurp them.

It also has echoes of the last time an upstart club from the English Midlands stole in when the title looked like Arsenal’s for the taking: Villa aren’t 2015-16 Leicester City, but from Arsenal’s perspective there are just enough elements of deja vu to make them shift uncomfortably.

Who knows how long this will last? Villa have shown enough times that they are vulnerable (it was only six weeks ago that they lost to Nottingham Forest, who have taken one point from the six games since) to suggest that this all might come crashing down sooner or later.

If Martinez or McGinn or Douglas Luiz get a significant injury, this could go south pretty quickly.

But then again, they could very easily keep all this up until May.

Either way, let’s enjoy it while it lasts.

[SamTheMouse]

Fifteen home wins on the bounce, facing the bottom team at Fortress Villa Park^tm with the chance to go top for Christmas...

Come on, we all know what's going to happen. This is the Villa we're taking about, after all.

[Axl Rose]

Fifteen home wins on the bounce, facing the bottom team at Fortress Villa Park^tm with the chance to go top for Christmas...

Come on, we all know what's going to happen. This is the Villa we're taking about, after all.

The last time I was at Villa Park was a pre Christmas game with Sheff Utd when Bruce was in charge. 2-2.

At the final whistle, my dad turned to me and asked, 'will the good times ever return?'

6 years later. Fucking hell. Amazing times

[Risso]

Fifteen home wins on the bounce, facing the bottom team at Fortress Villa Park^tm with the chance to go top for Christmas...

Come on, we all know what's going to happen. This is the Villa we're taking about, after all.

Standard 3-0 win without getting out of second gear?

[Sexual Ealing]

Fifteen home wins on the bounce, facing the bottom team at Fortress Villa Park^tm with the chance to go top for Christmas...

Come on, we all know what's going to happen. This is the Villa we're taking about, after all.

Exactly. Cameron Archer hattrick incoming.

[brontebilly]

We're now 11/1 for the title, and 4/7 on for a top 4 finish. Safe to say that we're in contention for a guaranteed CL spot next season.

Ignore the title odds but those top 4 ones look far too tight. Man United with a new coach and no Euro football, Tottenham and Newcastle out of Europe and with players coming back should all finish strong.

I'm most concerned by Tottenham who I see as our main threat to securing top 4. Think we'll finish above both Uniteds.

Agreed, we have a good lead on the two United's. Think Pope's injury is a huge blow for Newcastle too. Tottenham are a good team and Richarlison finally is getting going. Bentancur, Maddison and Van de Ven are key players to return too.

[rooboy316]

I don’t know how you lot do it - all this optimism. We’re going on a winless run at some point, there will be injuries to key players that we can’t adequately cover, and the squad will be fatigued. We will likely avoid relegation though.

[ADVILLAFAN]

I like the article about Villa being The Neutrals team. Would argue it was more Tottenham's title to win in 2016, but they fell aways badly that they finished 3rd in the end.

Arsenal came on at the end, but couldn't catch Leicester.

[London Villan]

It's almost incomprehensible to think, but are we in the title race?

We've just beaten the teams in 1st and 4th. We have the easier Christmas fixtures on paper - 7 points might see up top into the new year.

Long break until Europe starts again - with hopefully a couple of additions and Buendia ready to come back too.


I'm still think Spurs, Newcastle and maybe even Chelsea will put a run of results together and provide some tough opposition in the second half of the season.

But we couldn't do it, could we?
 

[Smirker]

Every Monday The Athletic discusses three of the biggest questions to arise from the weekend’s football.

Here's one of today's

ARE VILLA PERFECT FOR THE NEUTRALS?
 

Thought this was a bit patronising and lazy tbh. Yes it's a surprise and great that Villa appear to be title challengers but please stop treating the 7 time champions like a club who've never won anything.