Last season was a bad season for Villa and despite finishing 9^th they will look on 2010/2011 as a failure. Since last season finished they have sold their two biggest wingers and brought in 1 which means Marc Albrighton is likely to get plenty of game time which can only be good for England as he look to have very good talent. If Nzogbia and Albrighton can supply Bent with enough passes he will et enough goals to make their season a good one.

Another big name to leave was Brad Friedel who has been replaced by the excellent Shay Given who will be a key member of their team and if he has a good season then they will have a good season.

Villa have an extremely easy start with only Manchester city out of the top 6 to play in the first three months of the season. If they get off to a good start then the ought to be on a roll by the time the tougher games come around and if they are high on confidence then they could be in for a fantastic season. However a bad start will mean the fans are on their backs as Mcleish will have little good will to fall back on.

Betting

Villa are between 300/1 and 500/1to win the Premier league and it would take the most biased of Villa fans to think this was a possibility however at 14/1 Darren Bent is an inordinately good bet for top scorer.

Last Seasons final Position - 9th

Mystic Jarv's 2011/2012 premier league prediction for Aston villa – Europa League contender.

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