'Aston Villa are genuine top four contenders this season'

Former Aston Villa goalkeeper Mark Bosnich is more than convinced his former side are genuine top four contenders in the league this term.

Mark Bosnich believes Aston Villa are genuine top-four contenders this season without a doubt.

Dean Smith’s side currently find themselves in the fifth position with 26 points. Their tally of 14 games played means they have played the least games of all clubs in the top five.

To buttress the above, Villa can go just one point off leaders Liverpool should they win their two games in hand.

They have been one of the surprise packages this season and the highlight of their campaign was their 7-2 thrashing of reigning champions Liverpool.

Many don’t see Villa lasting there for long but Bosnich believes Champions League qualification is a realistic aim for his former club.

Aston Villa are above Chelsea in the Premier League, with two games in hand 👀 pic.twitter.com/biHFSGMV70
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 28, 2020

He told talkSPORT 2: “The key for Aston Villa is the fact they’ve beaten one of the best teams in the world 7-2 in Liverpool.

“The amount of confidence that’ll give the players, you can’t undervalue it whatsoever.”

“You’ve got your manager and the assistants having the ability to turn around and say, ‘listen, you’ve beaten the champions 7-2, so that means you can beat anybody.”

Bosnich continued: “So they know they can play at that level. Before that, they might have thought to themselves, ‘yeah, I think we can do it.”

“Others might have really believed that, but they’ve done it now, so there is no excuse for them.”

“They’ve got two games in hand, they’re sitting in fifth at the moment.”

“Just like how Manchester United are definitely contenders for the title, Aston Villa, for me, are definitely contenders for the top four. There is no doubt about that.”