The Home Front: Aston Villa v Sunderland match preview and team news

Villa are rocking in Europe but there's work to do at home in the Premier League too

There are six Premier League matches remaining in the 2025/26 season and both roads to the stated objective are still open. Most supporters would have taken this position if it had been on offer in August.

Aston Villa have constructed their campaign in such a way that it’s fallen short of expectations at some times and massively exceeded them at others; it’s difficult, with just a few weeks left, to gauge their progress.

All we can do as supporters and observers is to wait and see. If Villa qualify for the Champions League by finishing in the top five places in the Premier League or winning the Europa League, their success will be unequivocal. If they don’t, the same will be true of their failure.

The fixtures ahead have been described in some quarters as six cup finals. The sentiment is fair but I always find that a little reductive when applied to a team that could be a couple of matches away from an actual cup final.