Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion are both eyeing promotion to the Premier League.
Curtis Davies has made a huge claim that Aston Villa and West Brom have the best chance to be able to ‘cope’ with the transition from the Championship to the Premier League with the current squads they have.
At this moment in time, Villa are sitting 10th in the second tier of English football, while Albion are fourth after sacking manager Darren Moore over the weekend.
Following their relegation to the Championship last season, the Baggies retained a number of the senior players that dropped down with them, with the likes of Gareth Barry, Jay Rodriguez & Jake Livermore all staying on.
On the other hand, Villa lost the likes of Lewis Grabban, John Terry and Robert Snodgrass over the summer after their play-off final defeat to Fulham.
Speaking to the Debate show on Sky Sports Premier League (12/03/2019 at 10:35 pm), Davies was asked the following question: ‘From the runners and riders, who from the squads that they have, have the best chance to be able to cope with the transition from Championship to Premier League’?
“I’d say, West Brom, straightaway just because they have retained a lot of the players that they went down with,” Davies told Sky Sports. “They obviously need to add to the squad. They have got quite a lot of players in the mindset of playing in the Premier League.
“Aston Villa have got a strong squad. A lot of that is going forward. But I think they’d be well equipped to go up – they are the two that stand out for me one because of the infrastructures of the clubs and two the current playing staff that they have.”
There is no doubt that many would agree that Albion would be able to cope simply because they have a lot of Premier League experience in their squad.
For Villa, it would more than largely fall down to the mindset of the club, the coaching staff, i.e John Terry and players like Glenn Whelan, James Chester and Jack Grealish that would be able to push them through. But both teams would still need to invest heavily.
On Wednesday night, Villa will travel to Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest as they aim to close the four-point gap on the play-off places after winning back-to-back league games.
As for managerless West Brom, they will be looking to create a gap between themselves and the chasing pack behind them because if they lose against Swansea then they will start to look over their shoulders.
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