As the 2025\/26 Premier League season approaches, we spoke to supporters from every club. Here are the views from Aston Villa fans on what matters heading into the campaign.<\/p>\n
On lessons from last season they were clear: “That it\u2019s a squad game. It\u2019s no coincidence that our form picked up across the run-in, after improving our options with Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen.<\/p>\n
A sticky point across the winter ultimately cost us Champions League football before the new arrivals added fresh energy. Sadly, business has been minimal over the summer\u2026”<\/p>\n
On the manager the verdict was emphatic: “One of the very best in the business. It\u2019s easy to forget just how dire things were when he took over. But for a dodgy decision on the final day, we\u2019d have been celebrating Champions League football in back-to-back seasons. These are the best times we\u2019ve had in a long time and he is the driving force behind it.”<\/p>\n
Transfers remain a concern. “Frustrating. It\u2019s hard not to feel as if we\u2019ve got our noses pressed against the Premier League\u2019s glass ceiling when it comes to PSR. We\u2019ve followed the Chelsea route in juggling around the women\u2019s team to free funds but it still feels very much like our hands are tied.<\/p>\n
Whether some want to admit it or not, PSR does have a purpose. I\u2019m not quite as pitchforks out for the \u2018Big Six Cartel\u2019 as others, but there definitely needs to be some tweaks to the system allow ambitious clubs like ours a genuine chance to catch up.<\/p>\n
That said, the recent recruit of Evann Guessand looks exciting. Having him and Morgan Rogers skipping past challenges could be a cheat code for Emery this season.”<\/p>\n
On individuals: “Donyell Malen. The Dutchman seems to have the bit between his teeth in pre-season after last campaign\u2019s snub from the Champions League squad. The arrival of Guessand has threatened his place again but he looks up for the fight.” Fans also highlighted: “Boubacar Kamara \u2013 but not by those inside Villa Park. Amid our PSR issues, I\u2019m amazed that no club has tried their luck to sign him. Tying him down to a new long-term deal was our best signing of the summer. He\u2019s crucial.”<\/p>\n
The fixture they most want is clear: “Newcastle United on the opening weekend. Not only is it the return of the Premier League , but a genuine match-up against a direct rival. We either roll them over or get battered in recent meetings, with no in between. Let\u2019s hope it\u2019s the former this time around!”<\/p>\n
On an opposition player admired: “Not much of a secret but I\u2019ll go with Eberechi Eze. He was magnificent when Crystal Palace beat us in last season\u2019s FA Cup semi-final.”<\/p>\n
On expectations: “My heart says top four and head says top six. We appear more settled than a lot of the teams around us, so hopefully that bodes well. Champions League football back at Villa Park is what we all want. Getting there by winning the Europa League would be fine, too.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Villa fans warn PSR limits, praise manager, back Malen to fight and praise new signing Guessand. Now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[711,172],"tags":[414],"class_list":["post-1537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aston-villa","category-epl","tag-eberechi-eze"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1545,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions\/1545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}