When does a slow start turn into a winter of discontent, if not a full-blown crisis? Unai Emery is hoping he doesn’t find out before the next international break.
Aston Villa were in the Champions League this time last year after a strong finish in the Premier League the season before that and the Holte End was bouncing.
But defeat to Manchester United on the final day of last term meant they had to settle for sixth place and a spot in the second-tier Europa League – and it has gone from bad to worse since then.
Director of football Monchi has just lost his job following a disastrous summer transfer window which saw key players being sold without being adequately replaced and a weakened Villa are rooted in the bottom three after failing to win any of their first five games with an attack firing blanks until scoring their first league goal in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Sunderland.
The trouble with that performance was even though the Black Cats were reduced to ten men in the first half they didn’t need to use one of their nine lives to stay alive, fighting back to equalise and grab a point while finishing the stronger side.
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Villa, who powered their way to last season’s Champions League quarter-finals before losing to eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain, return to action against continental opposition when they begin their Europa League campaign with a home match against Serie A outfit Bologna.
Despite their wobbles, the midlands club are 13/2 favourites with Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet to win the final and give Emery his fifth success in a competition he has won more than any other coach.
After that, they face a tough assignment against in-form Fulham and then there’s another Europa League outing when they travel to Feyenoord before their final league assignment ahead of the enforced rest with a home game against Burnley.
If they were at last season’s best, Villa would be backed to cruise through all those fixtures but with star men like Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers currently stumbling through matches, it is difficult to see them performing to those high standards.
Europa League odds
It’s got to the stage where even a scrappy victory at 5/6 with Betfred, Betway, Bresbet and StarSports would suffice and Villa may achieve that as Bologna are no great shakes but it’s not advised to place high stakes.
A 2-1 win is worth a tentative flutter at 15/2 with Ladbrokes, Coral, bet365 and others, more in the belief Villa will surely emerge from the doldrums at some stage than any statistical analysis and former Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott is 17/5 with BetMGM to score at any time.
It’s telling that Villa are 8/5 with SpreadEx and Sporting Index to finish in the top half of the Premier League and just 4/5 with William Hill and bet365 to wind up in the bottom section and it may be the best they can hope for this time around is to be a repeat of last season’s Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou.
Ryder Cup odds
Rory McIlroy has won £12.5million this year thanks largely to success at Pebble Beach, the Players’ Championship, the Masters and the Irish Open but it’s a fair bet he would swap a reasonable chunk of that income for another Ryder Cup triumph with Europe at Bethpage Black on Sunday.
If Europe are to vanquish the United States on Long Island, McIlroy will have to play some tasty golf and he is 15/4 with bet365, Paddy Power, Sky Bet and others to be the holders’ top points scorer while Jon Rahm is 7/4 with the former firm and William Hill to be their wildcard player who gathers the most points.
Xander Schauffele is given the nod over Scottie Scheffler to be the top USA points scorer at 8/1 with Bet Victor, SpreadEx and Sporting Index while Ben Griffin is 7/1 to be their top wildcard scorer and 5/1 with Hills and BetVictor to be their top wildcard rookie in this category.
Greyhound odds
Punters will be feasting on Cheap Sandwiches when a thrilling Irish Greyhound Derby reaches its conclusion at Shelbourne Park in Dublin on Saturday night.
Former Portsmouth and Hove trainer Graham Holland steered this remarkable racer to second place in the competition in 2024 and fourth in the English equivalent at Towcester in the summer and connections can cash the £109,000 cheque presented to the winner.
Cheap Sandwiches is heavy odds on to win the final, however, while we have already landed the each-way part of our 28/1 ante-post bet on English raider Proper Heiress when Mark Wallis’ dog finished fourth in his semi-final from a poor draw only to be reinstated and allowed to run in the decider when Oreo Ollie was disqualified for turning his head.
Proper Heiress beat Cheap Sandwiches in a thrilling duel earlier in the competition and can cause an upset from a decent draw in trap one at 5/1 with William Hill and StarSports. The best bet is for him to prevail in the market without the favourite at 11/8 with Sky Bet and Paddy Power.
