Aston Villa set for take-off in terms of securing top-six berth berth

Dean Smith was delighted to land the managerial position at Aston Villa – the club he supported as a boy – and he could have an even better feeling in May because there is a strong chance of the Midlands giants winning promotion to the Premier League.

Villa are eighth with just over half of the season remaining but they are four points and four places higher than Fulham were at the same stage of the 2017-18 campaign.

• Sky Bet Championship standings and statistics

Fulham took off after the turn of the year and went close to winning automatic promotion before dusting themselves down and defeating Villa 1-0 in the playoff final.