OPINION
Ian Abrahams offered Aston Villa fans a glimmer of hope as he still backed their side to be able to force their way into the Championship play-offs.
The talkSPORT broadcaster claimed the promotion race was nowhere near to being settled and even claimed that Leeds United as well as Norwich City should be worried about their places at the top.
Abrahams, also known as Moose, went through the several contenders chasing promotion as well as the play-offs in the Championship this season and refused to rule out the Villans.
The broadcaster claimed that if the Villans could simply get a run together from now then they would have decent shout of finishing in the top-six with him refusing to rule Dean Smith’s side out of the race just yet.
“I think both (Leeds and Norwich) need to be careful of two teams in particular, Sheffield United as they beat Middlesbrough 2-0 last night and as you know I’m a massive fan of Chris Wilder,” said Abrahams on talkSPORT (Thursday February 14th, 21:55 minutes).
“They’re third just three points off the top and if they hadn’t blown that 3-0 lead at Aston Villa last Friday, they’d be a lot closer.
“Bristol City are absolutely flying nine wins in a row now and Lee Johnson’s side, another young English manager, Darren Moore’s WBA are kind of stuttering along a little bit as they win one, lose one but they’re still in the picture.
“Then you’ve got three teams behind them who I think should consider themselves to be promotion as well as play-off contenders, Middlesbrough in sixth who obviously lost last night, Derby who have really surprised me with their result as they only draw with bottom club Ipswich in fact Frank Lampard was furious about that.
“I know how many games Derby have drawn with Ipswich and even though they’re down in tenth place, I don’t think you can write off Dean Smith’s Villa yet as they’re seven points off the play-offs, so if they can get a run together then they will certainly be in with a decent shout.”
After witnessing their side suffered another defeat on Wednesday, this time courtesy of Brentford, many Aston Villa fans will be praying that the talkSPORT broadcaster is right and there is still time to force their way into the play-offs at the very least.
The Villans went all the way to the play-off final last season only to lose to the slick Fulham and it would be a huge sign that the club have regressed if they can’t get even make the play-offs this time around let alone reach their final stage.
With Aston Villa currently sitting seven points off sixth-placed Middlesbrough, many supporters have probably given up the goose however after hearing Abraham’s clam surely many supporters are praying for another twist in the tail.