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Aston Villa Football Club are one of the oldest clubs in English football. Often regarded as a sleeping giant, recent form under Martin O’Neill has given fans hope that former glories can be recaptured. You can watch Aston Villa live in the Premier League through our dedicated members area. Catch all the live online streaming action from Villa Park during the coming season right here on Live Sport Network.

Keeper Brad Friedel played a huge part in Villa’s challenge on the Premiership’s top four last season. He will again be key to Villa’s ability to maintain the pressure on the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool for the ultimate prize of a Champions League place.

Creating chances and scoring goals are two area’s in which Martin O’Neill should expect great things this coming season. Norwegian international John Carew found form when it mattered and will again be a formidable opponent for Premiership defences as will Emile Heskey who, if fit and on form, is one of the best strikers in the country. Gabriel Agbonlahor is one of the rising stars of English football and O’Neill will hope that the youngster who has already broken into Fabio Capello’s first team will improve even further this term.

James Milner is a vital cog in midfield and the former Leeds and Newcastle man appears to feel at home at Villa Park. He will be joined in midfield by another player who previously plied his trade in the North East, England international Stewart Downing, who has been captured from Middlesbrough. However, Villa fans will have to wait to see the two on the same pitch as Downing is not expected to be fit until the end of the year after suffering a serious injury in the closing stages of the 2008/9 season, ironically against Villa.

Defence is where O’Neill may need to concentrate his efforts most in the coming weeks and months. With Martin Laursen’s retirement and Zat Knight departing for pastures new, the pressure falls upon an experienced but limited number of individuals. Luke Young, Nicky Shorey and Curtis Davies have all either seen or been considered for international duty and Wilfred Bouma, returning from a lengthy lay-off set, will be keen to re-assert his first team credentials. Along with Carlos Cuella, their abilities are unquestioned but if injury strikes, as it can, whether O’Neill will be able to cover for the absence of any of the above without damaging his team’s prospects remains in doubt. With the departure of Gareth Barry, Villa will continue to seek to strengthen the squad to allow them to compete.

2008/9 saw them fall just short of a Champions league place after sacrificing a UEFA Cup run. A place in this year’s Europa League will not be given up quite as easily and a place in next season’s Champions League, via a top-four finish in the Premier League, will remain O’Neill’s goal.

The club was formed by four men, Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood, who were the members of Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Birmingham. The club's first major silverware came in 1880, when it won the Birmingham Senior Cup with George Ramsay as the captain, and seven years later won its first FA Cup title.

Aston Villa director William McGregor is often considered to be the founder of the Football League in 1888 and the club was among the original 12 teams that played in the inaugural Football League competition that year. Villa won five league titles and three FA Cups between 1894 to 1900. They moved to Aston Lower Grounds or Villa Park during that period, their home ground ever since.

The club saw both success and struggle in the following decades before winning the inaugural League Cup in 1961.

Villa won its first league title in 71 years under Ron Saunders in 1981. However Saunders resigned from his position the next year after clashing with chairman Doug Ellis and was replaced by assistant manager Tony Barton. It was Barton who led the club to its first and only European Cup in 1982 when they beat Bayern Munich 1-0 in the final.

Villa were runners-up in the first season of Premier League football and won the League Cup in 1994 and 1996, establishing themselves as a top flight club. They lost the 2000 FA Cup final to Chelsea but failed to make progress until the arrival of American investor, Randy Lerner, who bought the club a week after Martin O'Neill was appointed as the manager of the club.

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