Jamie Carragher disagrees with Gary Neville over Aston Villa’s top six chances this season

Aston Villa’s final position this season has been predicted ahead of the big kick-off.

It has been an exciting summer for Villa, who have been able to seal headline-making signings such as Pau Torres, Youri Tielemans and Moussa Diaby. Unai Emery’s men have a solid chance of competing in Europe this season, needing to pass through just one round of qualifying to reach the Europa Conference League.

It will be interesting to see how Villa balance European football with Premier League action, but many are expecting the Midlands club to make a run at the top six after finishing seventh last season.

This summer’s ambitious investment is a big part of those rising expectations, while Villa also have an experienced, high-level manager in Emery. It is, perhaps, for that reason why Gary Neville is backing Villa to secure Europa League football this coming season.

He said on The Overlap: “Just because of the three thing and never winning a fourth, I am going to go Arsenal to win the league, I’m going to go City second.“If I was putting my life on it I’d put City, but I’m just going to go Arsenal. I think Arsenal can beat them this year. Arsenal, City, Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea, [Aston] Villa.”

Not everyone is fully convinced, though, with Jamie Carragher predicting: “I’ll go Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham.”

Finishing inside the top six could be as tough as ever this season, with Chelsea and Liverpool expected to have a resurgence, while Tottenham should be back in the mix. Newcastle United have also invested heavily as they look to take another step forward in what will be a Champions League season for them.

Villa have their work cut out, but the level of excitement is still higher than it has been for some time at Villa Park.