Champions League Double?

Well! – What a turnaround in form and results as Villa swing from ‘struggling to stay in the top-6’, to almost certain of Champions League football next season.

At the time of writing, The Villans have just moved 10 points clear of 6th place Chelsea with a dramatic 4-3 victory over Sunderland when spirit, drive and belief were needed in large amounts as they overcame seeing a two-goal lead evaporate in less than two minutes, before storming back to score the winner in injury time.

Aston Villa never do it the ‘easy way’, much preferring to put their long-suffering supporters through a rollercoaster of emotions rather than treating them to stress-free games – but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Currently sitting fourth in the Premier League (joint third with Manchester United if you are of the ‘glass-half-full’ variety of fan), Unai Emery’s men can now see the finish line and two more wins from their final 5 games of the season should be more than enough to see the club finish in the top 5 and secure a second season of Champions League football in three years.

But of course, our Holte End heroes have more than just league position to play for as we head into the final month of the season.

They also have a ‘battle of England’ to look forward to with fellow Champions League (European Cup) royalty, in the Europa League semi-finals against Nottingham Forest.

Villa will enter the tie as favourites due to their Premier League standing, but getting past an opponent who will know their players well won’t be easy – Forest have a talented squad and many pundits believe their league position does not reflect the talent within the squad.

The Tricky-Tree’s have had a turbulent season off the field, with 4 managers being in charge since August – this is a Premier League record and goes some way to explaining their poor form at times – however, their European form has been a different story and they will go into the game full of confidence and hoping their Premier League status has been secured by then.

As for Villa; they will also believe they have enough to progress to the final at The Besiktas Stadium in Istanbul on May 20th.

With the second leg taking place at Villa Park, fans are optimistic of seeing the club win their first trophy since 1996, and seeing Unai Emery achieve a record-breaking 5 Europa League wins.

They will also be hoping that Champions League qualification has been secured via their league finish prior to the final, leaving only the trophy win on the players minds.

In terms of the question posed at the top of this article – YES! I fully expect Villa to finish in the PL top-5 and win the Europa League.

What a time to be a Villan!!

Image Credits: CarlosRM_ & Ian Rob_ via commons wikimedia