How we shape up in the Championship

Mid-week, Sunderland’s 3-0 victory over an Everton side in terrible form saw the Black Cats ensuring they would play another season in the Premier League. Their last minute surge towards safety is becoming something of a theme in the top flight. What this means for Aston Villa Football Club, however, is that joining us in the Championship next year will be Norwich City and Newcastle United.

This all looked almost inevitable as soon as the final whistle blew last Saturday at Villa Park. Against an extremely poor Villa side, to put it lightly, Newcastle just couldn’t grind out three points in a terrible ninety minutes of football. Quite frankly, they deserve to go down purely for not beating the side that we put out that day. So, for a second time, we (as good as) relegated the Geordies in our own back yard. As for Norwich City, the Canaries have really struggled as of late and their home defeat against Manchester United all but consigned them to the drop.

What does this mean for us next year?

Well, whilst the play-offs are still going on, we can’t be sure which teams will make up the Championship come the Summer. It is always an extremely difficult league to get out of and next year should be no exception. It’s hard to gauge how we’ll cope, as up until this year we’ve remained exclusively in the Premier League, but we can try and predict how our two relegated companions will perform.

Newcastle United visited the Championship in 2009-2010 after a Damien Duff own goal at Villa Park meant that they were relegated on the final day. When they arrived, however, they took the league by storm. Led by top-scorer Andy Carroll, they won the Championship comfortably with 102 points to bounce straight back up. Looking at the team they currently have, I can see history repeating itself. Newcastle United will be a Championship team with Premier League players and, over forty-six games, that quality has to shine through. In my opinion, theirs will be the strongest team we will have to face next term.

Norwich City is a team that know the division very well. The Canaries haven’t really set up camp anywhere, bouncing up to the Premier League to eventually be relegated once more. They know what it takes to return to the top flight but, this time around, I’m not sure that they will. Expect them to be a strong Championship side, always around the play-off spots, but I would not be surprised if they stayed exactly where they are after next season. We actually managed to beat them this campaign and, in that game, I thought they were the worst team that we’d played all season.

As for Villa, I really don’t know how to predict what will happen next season with the club in a state of flux. It will be a better season than this one, hopefully, but I can honestly picture us as a mid-table side just as easily as I can imagine us as one pushing for promotion. As fans, we can only look forward to seeing more wins and relish the prospect of playing Birmingham City twice a season again.

Good riddance, 2015-16. It’s on to the next one!

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