Aston Villa are set to take on Birmingham City at St. Andrews this weekend.
Paul Merson has told Sky Sports News, which was broadcast on 28th October, that Aston Villa will have to be considered as genuine promotion contenders if they are able to beat Birmingham City at the weekend.
Villa are currently in 16th place in the Championship table, after winning just three times so far this campaign.
However, the claret and blues have started to show signs of promise since Steve Bruce took charge.
Bruce has taken seven points from his first three matches at the helm at Villa, to start to build some confidence.
And Merson believes that if Villa can get the three points at St. Andrews then they will be in contention to start competing for a place in the top six.
“If you’d have looked at this game three weeks ago as Villa fan you’d have been thinking the last place we need to go is Birmingham. But the form has turned around,” Merson said.
“There wasn’t too much wrong at Villa, they just needed to start turning drawn into wins.
“If Villa win this game, you will start believing that they could go and get promoted to the Premier League.”
As things stand Villa are six points away from the play off spots, and 11 points away from the top two.
It leaves Bruce’s men playing catch up already, but there is little doubt about the quality in their squad.
Villa have a strike force which is the envy of most teams in the division and, despite their failure to win with regularity, the claret and blues have still proven difficult to beat.
Villa have lost only three matches in the Championship to date, and could move all the way up to ninth place if they are able to get past the Blues.
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