Thu 13 Jul - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 1min
The start of the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship season is just 23 days away - and dcfc.co.uk has been previewing all the teams the Rams will face over the upcoming campaign.
With one team under the spotlight each day, we start our countdown with one of the division’s hot favourites for promotion, according to the bookmakers, Aston Villa.
Aston Villa
Nickname: The Villans
Manager: Steve Bruce
Stadium Capacity: 42,785
Last Season’s Finishing Position: 13th (62 Points)
Last Campaign’s Top Scorer: Jonathan Kodjia (19 Goals)
Promotion Odds (According to Coral): 12/5 (Favourites)
Home – Saturday 16th December 2017 (Kick-Off: 3pm)
Away – Saturday 28th April 2018 (Kick-Off: 3pm)
Derby County 0-0 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 1-0 Derby County
The 2016/17 campaign was a season of highs and lows for Aston Villa, who were embarking on their first year outside of the top flight in 24 years.
Despite a close-season of significant recruitment, the Villans endured a tough start to life in the Championship, picking up just one win from their first 12 league outings.
At the start of October, Villa’s disappointing run of results forced new chairman Dr Tony Xia to recruit the expertise of former Hull City manager Steve Bruce, who replaced Champions League winning Italian boss Roberto Di Matteo.
A serial promotion specialist, Bruce made an immediate and went on to record four wins and three draws from his first seven games in charge.
He added to the squad too. Bringing in the likes of Henri Lansbury, Conor Hourihane and Scott Hogan to further strengthen what already looked a formidable squad at Championship level.
Despite that, the club’s up-turn in form did not last and a further winless patch at the beginning of the New Year saw the Villans experience seven losses from nine games, making any late surge for the play-offs unlikely.
Bruce did manage to resurrect his early arriving form, though, and went on to win eight of the Villans remaining 14 games of season.
As it stands, the side based at Villa Park are considered as favourites to gain promotion to the Premier League – an expectation that has only been enhanced by the signing of John Terry – and are a force not to be reckoned with as Bruce gears up for his first full season in charge of the Villa.
