Aston Villa played in the Championship five years ago, and this year they were in the semi-finals of the UEFA competition. Also, this season, they will achieve the best position in the Premier League since 2010, when they finished sixth. Now they can’t go below fifth place. Then again, Birmingham club captain John McGinn feels the need to apologize to Villa fans, as he feels he and his teammates have let them down. The 29-year-old midfielder from Scotland promised in a statement reported by the Guardian that he would do everything in his power to secure fourth place in the table for Aston Villa in the remaining two rounds and thus win a place in the Champions League.McGinn will have the opportunity to fulfill his promise this Monday at 10 PM EAT, when Liverpool visit Villa Park. If the home team triumphs, they will definitely remain beyond the reach of fifth-placed Tottenham, who have four points less.The reason for the bad mood among Unai Emery’s chosen ones lies mostly in the failure in the semi-finals of the Conference League, the third-highest quality UEFA club competition. Aston Villa were considered the main favorite to win that trophy, but in the semi-finals they experienced a double-leg debacle against Olympiakos, thus rounding off the unsuccessful season of English clubs on the international stage.Olympiacos fans showing their respect to Aston Villa fans applauding the side at the end of the game last night. Classy! 👏🤝 #AVFC pic.twitter.com/Gp5keWOdf5— Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) May 10, 2024 That Aston Villa will not play in the final could be guessed ten days ago, when the Athenians triumphed 4-2 at Villa Park. That the Greeks are the better team at the moment was confirmed in the second leg as well – the score was 2-0 on Thursday. At no point did Emery’s team look capable of turning things around.It is a little more due to the bad form of the English club, which played poorly in the last two matches in the championship. At home, they drew against Chelsea (2-2), and then were defeated in Brighton (0-1). Tottenham used that to reduce the deficit to a still achievable four points, although the Spurs play Manchester City on Tuesday and the question is how realistic it is for the north London team to win against the reigning champions.Nevertheless, McGinn couldn’t be bothered with that game. He is aware that after the debacle in Greece, Aston Villa owe it to their fans to play well against Liverpool.”In the last five or six weeks there has been a noticeable drop in our form. We are frustrated because we could have secured a place in the Champions League much earlier. The Premier League is an extremely difficult competition, we had some problems, but this team will fight until the end,” McGinn assures.Havertz: ‘I’ll be the biggest Spurs fan ever’Villa’s captain also commented on the visit to Athens.”We were the favorite to win the Conference League and we all gladly accepted that role. We disappointed our fans, we did not live up to expectations and we can learn a lot from that. We’ve made our fans happy many times this season and even though it feels like a huge disappointment right now, I think in a few weeks we’ll be proud of everything we’ve done. We are so close to the finish line, but we have to keep our focus on Monday night. We owe the fans a good game. We also owe it to ourselves, because of everything we went through during the season. Everything is in our hands,” concluded the Scottish footballer.Liverpool will certainly finish the championship in the third position, so they have no competitive motivation from that side. However, as Jürgen Klopp will leave Anfield at the end of the season after nine years, and this is his penultimate match on the bench, he will surely ask for maximum sacrifice from his squad. In the first meeting of the season, at the beginning of September last year, Liverpool defeated Aston Villa easily 3-0.PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 37SaturdayFulham – Man.City 0-4 (0-1)/Gvardiol 13, 71, Foden 59, Alvarez 90+7 pen/Wolverhampton – Crystal Palace 1-3 (0-2)/Cunha 68 – Olise 26, Mateta 29, Eze 73/Everton – Sheffield Utd 1-0 (1-0)/Doucoure 30/Tottenham – Burnley 2-1 (1-1)/Porro 32, Van De Veen 82 – Bruun Larsen 25/Bournemouth – Brentford 1-2 (0-0)/Solanke 90 – Mbeumo 87, WIssa 90+6/Newcastle – Brighton 1-1 (1-1)/Longstaff 45+5 – Veltman 18/West Ham – Luton 3-1 (0-1)/Ward-Prowse 54, Soucek 66, Earthy 77 – Lokonga 6/Nott.Forest – Chelsea 2-3 (1-1)/Boly 16, Hudson-Odoi 75 – Mudryk 8, Sterling 80, Jackson 82/SundayMan.Utd. – Arsenal 0-1 (0-1)/Trossard 21/Monday22:00: (4.40) Aston Villa (3.90) Liverpool (1.75)***odds are subject to change***
