Next Aston Villa Manager Odds

Aston Villa are on the lookout for a new manager following the sacking of Steven Gerrard after the Villains' 3-0 defeat away at Fulham.

The former Liverpool midfielder was already under a lot of mounting pressure prior to kick-off, with many fans chanting for the board to sack Gerrard after their defeat to Chelsea last weekend. At present, Villa sit 17th in the Premier League with nine points from 11 matches.

Despite attracting a series of high-profile signings, such as Philippe Coutinho, Lucas Digne and Diego Carlos amongst many, Gerrard finished with a record of 13 wins and eight draws in 40 matches, equating to a win percentage of 32.5%.

Below, we take a look at who the candidates are to replace the 42-year-old as manager at Villa Park.

Mauricio Pochettino is the bookmakers’ favourite for the role having not had a job since the end of last season, following PSG’s decision to part ways with the Argentine.

This would be a major coup for Villa, as the Argentine was one of the favourites for the Manchester United job having done terrific jobs at both Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton during his last spell in England.

During his time at Spurs, Pochettino managed to take the club from Europa League fodder, to a side that would on occasion compete for the Premier League title, whilst also managing to reach the Champions League final with them in 2018/19.

The 50-year-old managed Southampton from January 2013 to May 2014, taking a side from just outside the relegation zone, to an eighth-place finish the following season. His last spell in management at PSG wasn’t as successful as he’d have hoped, winning three trophies in one and a half seasons, but, this certainly won’t have put any clubs off from appointing Pochettino.

Villa are priced at 7/4 to get Pochettino in as Gerrard’s replacement - click on the link to claim this bet in your bet slip!

Gerrard’s former assistant manager at both Rangers and Villa, Michael Beale, is also on this list of managers that could potentially take over at Villa Park.

Wolverhampton Wanderers recently triggered a buy-out clause for Beale with Queens Park Rangers, however, the 42-year-old refused to leave Loftus Road, with his current side sitting at the top of the Championship after 15 matches.

So far at QPR, Beale has proven what many thought was the case, that he was a major part of Gerrard’s early managerial successes, having gone on to win eight and draw four of his opening 16 matches in charge of the R’s.

Beale is priced at 11/4 to succeed Gerrard as Villa manager.

Brentford manager Thomas Frank has also been linked with the role at Villa following the highly impressive job that he has done with the Bees since joining them back in October 2018.

The Danish manager notably managed to lead Brentford to the Premier League in the 2020/21 season via the play-offs and has since overseen his side earn a 13th-place finish in his first campaign as a Premier League manager, whilst accumulating 14 points from 11 matches this season.

Frank has very similar managerial traits to the likes of Graham Potter, as his side tends to play at a high-intensity whilst bringing attacking football when possible, whilst developing players, having initially signed the likes of Ivan Toney from Peterborough United and Bryan Mbeumo from Troyes back in 2019.

Frank is priced at 4/1 to be appointed as Villa’s next manager.

Sean Dyche is another manager that could be considered for the job at Villa.

The 51-yar-old has been without a job since leaving Burnley last season. In his nine years at Turf Moor, Dyche built himself a reputation for being able to manage low-budget sides to success, having earned promotion from the Championship with the Clarets in 2013/14 and 2015/16.

During his time at Burnley, Dyche even lead the club to the Europa League qualifying stages following a seventh-place finish in the 2017/18 campaign, where the clarets amassed 54 points in 38 matches.

It would certainly be interesting to see what Dyche could do if he was given a bigger budget and more high-quality players than that which he managed at Turf Moor.

Dyche is priced at 5/1 to get back into management with Aston Villa.

The final manager on this list is ex-Arsenal and current Villarreal boss Unai Emery.

This would certainly be an interesting move, as Emery has rebuilt his career with the Yellow Submarine, having won the Europa League with them in 2020/21 at the expense of Manchester United, whilst also managing Villarreal to the Champions League semi-finals last season where they were beaten by Liverpool. During his time with the Yellow Submarine, Emery has taken charge of 128 matches, winning 64 and drawing 34.

Prior to his current role, Emery had managed the likes of Arsenal and PSG, winning seven trophies in two seasons with the latter. Perhaps one of Emery’s most notable managerial achievements was winning three Europa League finals in a row with Sevilla between 2013 and 2016.

Emery would certainly be an interesting choice for Villa, especially if the Spaniard can qualify them for any European competition due to his superb record in them.

Emery is priced at 6/1 to trade Villarreal for Aston Villa.