I thoroughly enjoyed the win over Reading on Saturday, and like most Villa fans I know, I’m starting to really believe we can reach Europe this season, writes Villa blogger Gregg Williams.
If you look at our remaining home games you’d have to say all of them are against teams we should be expecting to beat.
I guess that means that our chances rest with our performances away from home, and in particular at Anfield, Old Trafford, The Emirates and Goodison Park.
There is definitely a feel good factor at Villa Park at the moment, as was demonstrated by the positive atmosphere at the weekend.
I can’t recall three consecutive standing ovations for substituted players before, but John Carew, Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor all received one when they left the field on Saturday and it was fantastic to see.
The spirit in the squad is obviously very strong and the players seem to enjoy playing together.
I know some fans are starting to get carried away and talk of fourth place.
To be honest I can’t see that happening unless Martin O’Neill is able to bring in two or three players of real quality in the next two weeks.
That’s not easy to do in the transfer window, in general clubs will be reluctant to sell unless they have replacements lined up.
We will inevitably pick up suspensions and injuries which at the moment would destabilise the team, and the odd decision is bound to go against us as well, particularly at Anfield and Old Trafford.
It will also be interesting to see whether being knocked out of the cups turns out to be a blessing in disguise.
We have only one objective now and that’s the highest points tally we can get, and with other teams trying to fight battles in domestic and European competitions, we might be able to take advantage.
Villa fans what do you think? Have your say below
2 Comments
I agree 4th is a bit over ambitious, but the way that O´neil encourages the team to go for it every single game and believes that we can win every time we play, you just never know. I think having the big teams away from home is a blessing in disguise, since we have a great record away from home and can cause a few upsets in the title race. The home matches worry me a bit since the pressure and prerogative is on us to score and win and take the game to the opposition…..not an easy thing to do week in week out. My prediction would be for us to finish 5th by the end of it all, and that is based on the fact we have Martin O´neill urging us on, nothing more, nothing less.
Yep - nice and easy since they opened that Chunnel thingy….