After narrowly avoiding relegation by a single point last year, Aston Villa underwent a dazzling revival in 2020/21.

Hopes of an unlikely European football spot have faded in the final third of the season, but this has still been a promising campaign for Dean Smith’s young squad to build from next year.

Villa started the season red-hot, winning their first four games while putting champions Liverpool to the sword 7-2 at Villa Park.

Even so, football betting markets were reluctant to back them in the race for Europe, which has since been vindicated, given that they’re now 35/1 to even make the top 10.

It wasn’t until mid-season, with Villa an ever-present in the top half, that fans began to see them as a potential Premier League dark horse.

Elsewhere, wins against Leicester and Arsenal defied pundits’ weekly football predictions to make Smith’s unit a group no one wanted to face.

But a team that became known for its dizzying array of attacking talent came unglued mid-season with the loss of its star player and have since fallen out of favour when it comes to experts’ picks.

Jack Grealish’s Premier League season by rank: