Villa mid table….in the odds to go down

At the end of last season, I remember writing a similar post, and we were around sixth favourites to go down. Fast forward a few months, and I’m delighted to see us in a mid table position! Of course this time last year, Swansea, Norwich and QPR would have all been up there with the favourites, and they all defied the odds to stay up, so it’s no surprise that new boys Reading, Southampton and West Ham all feature this time around near the top.

We have a new manager, and it’s interesting to see his old club Norwich are the third favourites to go down. Second season syndrome is now a favourite footballing cliché of many, and I’m quite intrigued to see how they get on this time out.

Villa as mentioned come in around the mid table position, and odds range from 5/1 to 8/1 to go down, with the majority of bookmakers offering 7′s. Now this year, I really hope we’re not going to be involved in anything to do with relegation. It’s damn stressful for us fans, and I don’t want to see a repeat of infighting between Villa supporters. I’d be genuinely happy with mid-table this season. There is still plenty to do, and we’ve still got a lot of gaps in our squad and after the last few seasons, I think it be a positive step forward. Hopefully we’ll see some good football to go along with it, and I think that will be most of us happy.

Looking at a few other odds, and our very own Darren Bent is just outside the top ten when it comes to looking at the top scorers. The usual names are there, and Bent finds himself at around 25/1 alongside names like Welbeck, Cisse and Jelavic. If we can get him the service then I think he could certainly come close to getting 20 goals a season for us. He’s scored 9 goals in each of the last two seasons for us, one of those when he joined in January, and last season when he suffered with a few injuries.

One important market for many Villa fans is the one for top Midlands club, and we’re favourite going into the new season. Hopefully normal service is resumed this time around.

And finally, for all you dreamers out there, who think that Lambert can have the ultimate first season with us, you can get 2500/1 on us to win the league!

UTV.