Solskjaer was right if these forgotten title challengers are anything to go by

Villa were top of the league on New Year’s Day but a run of no wins in ten games from January 9 to April 10 ended their participation altogether as they held on to finish sixth. It was a phenomenal effort from a team that was forced to sell its top goalscorer amid vague threats of managerial gun violence at the start of the campaign. They jeopardised Treble dreams long before they became a reality and still missed out on European qualification to Harry Redknapp’s West Ham.