12 months on from their Wembley heartbreak at the hands of Fulham, Aston Villa will get the chance to put that nightmare to bed when they face Derby County at the home of football on the 27th May in the Championship play-off final, with a place in the Premier League once again at stake.

For Villa, they will know that they simply cannot afford to slip up at Wembley again, with failure to convert a second straight play-off final appearance into a place in the Premier League surely set to leave their squad without a number of the men who have proved so vital to getting the Midlands side all the way to Wembley in the past few months.

That Villa are even in a position to take an all or nothing shot at promotion to the Premier League owes much to a remarkable, club record ten game winning from the start of March that saw Dean Smith's side break into the top six at a canter, securing their place in the play-offs with three games of the regular season remaining.

Having seemed less convincing since that time, understandably taking their foot off the gas in the regular season, but then relying on penalty shootout to get past a West Brom side hampered by injuries and suspensions over the two legs of their play-off semi final.

[ad_pod ]

 

Villa will surely now have to return to the blistering form that they showed throughout that ten game winning run if they are to seal a return to the promised land.

It is perhaps fitting for Villa therefore, that it is Derby that they will play at Wembley for that place in the Premier League.

Back at the start of March, it was a 4-0 thrashing of The Rams at Villa Park that kick started the winning run that saw them climb from mid table all the way into the play-offs.

As impressive as that result was, few could have imagined at that time the run that Villa were about to embark upon, so to end what has so far been a dream story to the bed against the same opponents it all started with, would feel like a fitting conclusion to what has been a difficult 12 months of wondering what could have been for Villa.

Not least because the side that Fulham beat to secure their own place at Wembley 12 months ago, were none other than Derby County.