’s targets at the start of the season will have been to win the Europa Conference League and finish in the top six.
Even the most optimistic fan on the Holte End would have considered qualifying for the a bit of a push.
The rest of the football world will have recognised made a huge difference after taking over from Steven Gerrard last year but would have probably ranked their chances of finishing in the top six as a best-case scenario.
Well, how times and expectations have changed.
Villa’s 2-1 win at on Sunday has lifted them into fourth in the , and at this stage in the proceedings they have to be considered realistic title contenders.
It’s unlikely they will succeed in realising that lofty ambition and odds of 50/1 with Betway, bet365, Bet Victor and others for them to win the title accurately reflect that.
The bookies reckon they will miss out with Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle and Spurs fancied to end up above them but the 100/30 with Betway that they make it is certainly interesting.
The 5/6 chalked up by the same firm for a top-six finish looks too good to be missed, though, as the second-city club have key players waiting to return from injury and one or two new arrivals in January should cement their position at the business end of the table.
First things first and Villa entertain Legia Warsaw in their penultimate match in the Europa Conference League with a decent victory sending them straight into the last 16.
They have won eight and drawn one of their last ten matches in all competitions and are in much better shape than when they lost 3-2 in Warsaw earlier in the season.
Ollie Watkins netted his seventh league goal of the season at Spurs and is 10/3 with bet365 to hit his sixth goal in Europe by breaking the deadlock against the visitors from Poland. He’s 5/6 with the same firm to score at any time.
• Brighton’s first venture into Europe ended in a 3-2 defeat at the Amex in September but they can atone for that by winning the reverse fixture with AEK Athens and are 19/20 with Betway to triumph.
• Dallas have been pummelling their NFL rivals on their way to an 8-3 record this season and are evens with Sky Bet to beat the Seattle Seahawks by over 9.5 points when Thursday Night Football rolls into Texas. Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb is 13/2 with the same firm to open the scoring with his seventh touchdown of the year.
