Reviewing 2025/26

Unai Emery's men have been a completely different prospect to play against since he took over. I can't remember predicting them to finish higher than 6th since the good old mid 90's teams, however, I tipped a top 5 finish in 25/26 and even then they proved me wrong, winning at Manchester City on the final day and finishing 4th! On top of what was already a successful campaign, the Villains beat Frieburg 3-0 in the Europa League Final to lift their first European trophy since 1982.

Ollie Watkins found his scoring boots towards the end of the season scoring ten goals in his last twelve games, earning a place in the England squad in the process.

Looking ahead to 2026/27

At 33/1 for the title, Villa are 7th favourites. There's no title expectations at Villa Park but after last season's top 4 finish and winning the Europa League, it's fair to say that there's a lot of positivity. Off the pitch, works to expand the capacity of the North Stand have begun and are expected to be complete by the end of the season.

The departures of Morgan Rogers and Youri Tielemans are huge losses though. The spine of team needs to be rebuilt and re-moulded now, and whilst there's no denying that Joao Gomes is a wonderful signing from Wolves, I don't think Johan Manzambi can replace the gaping hole left by the sale of Rogers. That's not to say it's not a good signing. It is. He impressed greatly on his World Cup debut and but for injury ruling him out for the game against Argentina, I think the Swiss may have gone one step further.

Court Offside Tip

After last season, I expected to be predicting Villa to push for the top 4 again but having seen some of their top players leave I just can't do that. Given the extra distraction of Champions League football that they'll have to contend with, I think 7th is a realistic prediction and doubt many Villains will be disappointed with it.