Aston Villa Football Club

2018-2019 Championship League Finish: 5th place, promoted to Premier League via playoff

2019-20 Premier League Prediction: 14th Place

Transfers In:

Wesley FW - Club Brugge £22,000,000

Tyrone Mings DF - Bournemouth £20,000,000

Jota FW - Birmingham City, Undisclosed

Anwar El Ghazi FW - Lille, Undisclosed

Matt Targett DF - Southampton £11,500,000

Bjorn Engels DF - Stade de Reims, Undiclosed

Kortney Hause DF - Wolverhampton £3,000,000

Transfers Out:

Gary Gardner MF - Birmingham City, Undisclosed

Albert Adomah FW - Nottingham Forest, Free Agent

Ritchie De Laet DF - Royal Antwerp, Free Agent

Tommy Elphick DF - Huddersfield Town, Free Agent

Alan Hutton DF - Free Agent

Mile Jedinak MF - Free Agent

Ross McCormack FW - Free Agent

Micah Richards DF - Free Agent

Aston Villa will be returning to the Premier League after their 3 year absence. Aston Villa was relegated from the Premier League for the first time in 2015-16, when they finished with an abysmal 17 points and in last place. Since then, Villa are under new ownership and things appear to be heading in the right direction. They nearly missed out on promotion 2 years ago when they finished 4th in the Championship and then lost the playoff final to Fulham, who ended having a short tenure in the Premier League by finishing 20th last season and being relegated. But this past year Villa were able to finish in the top 6 again and would go on to win the playoff final and gain promotion.

Aston Villa, like most teams that are promoted, are going to be faced with the question of how their players translate into top tier football. While Villa have been consistent in the Championship over the past 2 seasons, are these players going to be able to compete at the same level in the Premier League? The number one issue for Villa is going to be replacing Tammy Abraham’s 25 goals that he had in the Championship last season. Abraham was at Aston Villa on loan from Chelsea and at this point and time it appears he is going to be staying with Chelsea for the season. No other player in the team had more than 9 goals, so that’s going to be a big task for either Kodjia to step up his game or the newcomer Wesley to have a big season. The final few years before Aston Villa were relegated they always seemed to escape relegation due to their striker, Christian Benteke, giving them much needed goals but the first season after they sold him, they were relegated. I feel Aston Villa has a solid defense and midfield but is going to need to get those goals from somewhere.

Strength:

I think Aston Villa’s biggest strength is going to be their midfield and their ability to attack and create chances, which they will desperately need. At this point in time it appears that star man Jack Grealish is here to stay with Villa for the upcoming season. The 23 yr old has been linked to multiple moves away from the Birmingham club for the past few seasons, with them in the Championship division and him looking to take the next step in his career but now that it Villa have made it back to the Premier League, it’s time for him to show what type of player he can truly be. Grealish registered 6 goals and 6 assists in 31 games in the Championship last year. Along with Grealish in the midfield is last year’s Aston Villa player of the year, John McGinn, and then Conor Hourihane. McGinn and Hourihane combined for another 20 assists and 13 goals between the two players. While Abraham was the big man in attack last season, these 3 midfielders were a huge reason that Villa had the 3rd best offense in the Championship last season. Hopefully for Villa, they can continue their great form in the Premier League and their new striker Wesley will have no issues replacing Abraham as a result of the service he gets from this midfield.

Weakness:

WesleyCredit: TalkSport — Wesley
Credit: TalkSport

While I just praised the Villa midfield for their attacking prowess, I’m going to list Aston Villa’s forwards as their main weakness. The main reason for this is largely due to the uncertainty. Scott Hogan returns from his loan at Sheffield United, but who knows what the club’s plans are for him. Jonathan Kodjia is back but you could almost say a bigger question mark surrounds him. Kodjia had the 2nd most goals on the team last year with 9, but his time at the club has been very inconsistent. He had a great first season with the club registering 19 goals in 36 games, but then followed that up with a lousy 1 goal in 15 games the following season. So while his 9 goals in 36 games may have been 2nd best on the team, who knows where those goal totals are going to be this year, especially facing stiffer competition. Then of course you have Wesley. The Brazilian forward that the club brought in for a hefty sum of money. The upside about Wesley is that he’s only 22 years old, so he’s a young player that you hope will continue to build and live up to his potential. The downside is that while he’s been pretty good in the Belgium First Division, he’s not been out of this world. In his last 2 seasons he’s scored 7 goals and then 10 goals in the 28 games he played each season. Those are decent numbers, but considering that the Belgium league is not close to the Premier League, you have to be worried how that will translate. He could be great, as the Belgium league has produced a ton of talent over the years but with him being a young, unproven forward and being Villa’s main attacker going forward, that has to be slightly worrisome.

Top Goalscorer Predictions:

Grealish: 8

Hourihane: 6

Wesley: 6

I don’t see a single player in this team scoring a bunch of goals, it’s definitely going to have to be a team effort across the board with the midfield helping out the most.

Home Kit: Typical home jersey for Aston Villa. I think the white shorts and light blue socks is what pulls this whole kit together. Pretty good. My only gripe would be how big the sponsor logo is on the front.

Away Kit: This jersey was just released a few days ago and this is really the best picture we have of it. I think the shirt looks great by itself but it’s definitely going to be make or break with the color shorts they go with.

Previous Teams:

Arsenal

Thanny

Premier League Preview 2019-20: Aston Villa