Aston Villa season preview - predictions, fixtures, summer signings, starting XI

Aston Villa can look forward to another season in the Premier League after narrowly avoiding relegation last term.

Dean Smith's side, who were ever-presents in the division before their relegation in 2016, are among the favourites to return to the Championship again this term and so will be motivated to upset the odds once more.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the Villans ahead of the 2020-21 season.

How did they fare last season?

Just about well enough.

The 2018-19 Championship playoff winners went into the 2019-20 Premier League season with their number one priority being survival, and ultimately they achieved that.

It took an unlikely escape in the closing stages of the campaign, though, and Dean Smith will hope for a more comfortable relegation scrap this time around.

With just three games left of the season, Villa sat four points from safety in 19th place. However, a strong end to their campaign, picking up eight points from the final 12 on offer, sealed their survival in dramatic circumstances as they pipped Bournemouth by one point courtesy of a 1-1 draw on the final day.

Villa also made it all the way to the EFL Cup final during their first season back in the top flight, but they were edged out by Manchester City at Wembley.

The high point was undoubtedly securing their Premier League status for another season, while the low point arguably came in January when they were thumped 6-1 at home by Man City.

Biggest improvement needed

Concede fewer goals.

Aston Villa shipped a whopping 67 goals last season, a tally second to only bottom-of-the-table Norwich City.

Only Norwich and fellow relegated side Bournemouth kept fewer clean sheets than their tally of seven throughout the course of the season too.

Manager: Dean Smith

An Aston Villa fan, Dean Smith has earned his chance in the Premier League the hard way by coming up through the divisions.

The 49-year-old's first job came at Walsall when they were nine points adrift at the bottom of League One, but he steered them to safety and then to their first ever appearance at Wembley before taking over at Brentford.

Smith was appointed Villa boss in October 2018 and took the club from 14th in the Championship up into the playoffs during his first season at the helm, winning at Wembley to secure their Premier League return last year.

Key player: Jack Grealish

For a while it looked as though Jack Grealish was destined to leave this summer, regardless of whether Villa stayed up, but the price tag on his head has proved to be too steep for anyone to prise him away from his boyhood club yet.

It is no exaggeration to suggest that, without him, Villa would have probably been relegated last season, with Grealish scoring eight goals and creating six more in the Premier League.

On top of that, the 24-year-old was fouled 167 times last term - the most fouls won in a season by a player in the competition on record (since 1998-99).

Summer transfer business

Squad

1. Tom Heaton (GK) 2. Matty Cash (DF) 3. Neil Taylor (DF) 6. Douglas Luiz (MF) 7. John McGinn (MF) 8. Henri Lansbury (MF) 9. Wesley (FW) 10. Jack Grealish (MF) 11. Ollie Watkins (FW) 12. Jed Steer (GK) 14. Conor Hourihane (MF) 15. Ezri Konsa (DF) 17. Trezeguet (MF) 18. Matt Targett (DF) 19. Marvelous Nakamba (MF) 20. Mbwana Samatta (FW) 21. Anwar El Ghazi (MF) 22. Bjorn Engels (DF) 23. Jota (MF) 24. Frederic Guilbert (DF) 25. Orjan Nyland (GK) 27. Ahmed Elmohamady (DF) 28. Lovre Kalinic (GK) 30. Kortney Hause (DF) 36. Indiana Vassilev (FW) 39. Keinan Davis (FW) 40. Tyrone Mings (DF) 41. Jacob Ramsey (MF) - Scott Hogan (FW)

Possible starting XI

Fixture list

Aston Villa will have to wait longer than most to get their season underway with their opener against Manchester City having been postponed due to their opponents finishing last season later than others.

A home tie with Sheffield United on September 19 will be their first outing of the campaign, then, before visiting newly-promoted Fulham later in the month.

It looks like being a difficult end to the season, with Liverpool and Manchester City back to back in April and Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in three of their last four games.

SEPTEMBER

12: Man City (a) POSTPONED

19: Sheffield United (h)

26: Fulham (a)

OCTOBER

3: Liverpool (h)

17: Leicester (a)

24: Leeds (h)

31: Southampton (h)

NOVEMBER

7: Arsenal (a)

21: Brighton (h)

28: West Ham (a)

DECEMBER

5: Newcastle (h)

12: Wolves (a)

15: Burnley (h)

19: West Brom (a)

26: Crystal Palace (h)

28: Chelsea (a)

JANUARY

2: Man Utd (a)

12: Tottenham (h)

16: Everton (h)

26: Burnley (a)

30: Southampton (a)

FEBRUARY

2: West Ham (h)

6: Arsenal (h)

13: Brighton (a)

20: Leicester (h)

27: Leeds (a)

MARCH

6: Wolves (h)

13: Newcastle (a)

20: Sheffield United (a)

APRIL

3: Fulham (h)

10: Liverpool (a)

17: Manchester City (h)

24: West Brom (h)

MAY

1: Everton (a)

8: Man Utd (h)

12: Crystal Palace (a)

15: Tottenham (a)

23: Chelsea (h)

Prediction: 18th

Keeping hold of Grealish would boost Villa's survival hopes immensely, but they still look short in other areas of the field - perhaps most notably up front despite the arrival of the exciting but unproven Ollie Watkins in a club-record deal.

It took a remarkable escape in the closing weeks of last season and the general standard in the Premier League this season looks to have improved, so they can ill-afford to rely on the same again this time around.

Smith's side will certainly put up a fight and will not go down easily, but we can see their 2020-21 campaign ending with relegation back to the Championship.