Dean Smith’s Aston Villa will be looking to survive in the Premier League at the first time of asking after they won the Championship play-off final to secure a place back in the top flight and it is fair to say that they are ready to give it a good go.
Villa have wasted no time in showing their ambition to stay in the Premier League for the long haul, with the club spending big on a number of key summer targets as they prepare to build their squad for the rigours of top-flight football.
A number of loan players that previously featured in the Championship have returned on permanent deals, while the likes of Wesley Moraes and Matt Targett have arrived for big money. Fans of rival clubs have suggested that Villa are ‘doing a Fulham’ by replicating their approach and signing so many players, completely revamping their squad, but where the two differ is that there appears to be a clear plan at Villa Park, compared to what looked like panic buys at Craven Cottage.
Tyrone Mings, who played a crucial role in the club’s promotion, has returned to the club on a permanent basis after a brilliant spell on loan with Villa last season. He quickly became a firm fans’ favourite and many were delighted to see him back in time for their return to the Premier League. Jota and Anwar El Ghazi will both provide a threat out wide and the likes of Targett, Ezri Konza and Kortney Hause are all highly-rated young English talents that will be aiming to make the step up in the Premier League.
A few betting apps had Fulham among the favourites to be relegated and that they were after their season really did not go to plan. After a host of signings and three different managers, Fulham were back in the Championship at failing to avoid the drop at the first time of asking.
By betting on mobile with https://bettingapps.org you will be able to back Smith’s side to avoid a repeat of this and stay in the Premier League.
Like Fulham, Villa have the momentum of the play-off victory on their side and they’ll be hoping to make a positive start in the top flight. As they go through the motions in pre-season, Smith will be well aware that gelling the new-look Villa squad together as quickly as possible will be the key challenge that he faces this summer as the club simply do not have time to adapt to the demands of the Premier League.
Smith will take hope from Villa’s opening run of fixtures. They start the season away to Tottenham, which is by no means an easy place to go, but they then face Bournemouth, Palace, Burnley, Norwich and Brighton during their first nine games of the campaign. It’s a run of fixtures that gave them a huge opportunity to get some vital points on their board early on against potentially some of their relegation rivals.
When compared to the other two sides who won promotion out of the Championship – Sheffield United and Norwich – Villa have spent much more them already and as things stand, appear to be in the best position to keep their top-flight status by the time May rolls around. Norwich have done well to keep their squad together amid interest from some top Premier League sides in some of their young stars, while Sheffield United have also started spending, but not quite to extent that Villa have done. Only time will tell, but it is easy to see why supporters at Villa Park are excited about the months ahead.
