In the first part of a special Aston Villa Q&A, BBC Sport football reporter Nick Mashiter looks at the ambitions for Unai Emery’s side this season.
First up is Jonathon, who asked: Do you see Aston Villa challenging for those Champions League spots this season? It was a poor start, but we seem to be finding some momentum now.
Nick answered: Emery is Aston Villa’s biggest weapon. He doesn’t have anything to prove and he has done it with Villa before, so few would bet against him doing it again.
Of course, it was not the best start to the season but four straight wins going into Sunday’s trip to Tottenham leaves Villa with upward momentum, even if they have not been entirely convincing.
They will need some fortune, though, and Ollie Watkins needs to score consistently.
Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City will be the favourites for the top four, and we need to see if Bournemouth and Crystal Palace can maintain their starts.
Villa face Spurs, Manchester City, Liverpool and Bournemouth in their next four Premier League games – so by the next international break we will have a better idea of their credentials.
As it stands, they are only five points adrift the top four, and we also need to bear in mind that England and Portugal are on course to earn the two extra Champions League places on offer for next season.
Since the start of last season, when the Champions League’s first round expanded from 32 teams to 36, Uefa has handed an extra qualifying place to the two best-performing nations in the previous season.
This season, England and Spain earned an extra spot, with nine Premier League teams competing in the three European competitions.
Come back to this page later on Tuesday for the second instalment in this three-part Q&A, which will focus on Donyell Malen and Marco Bizot.
