Mauricio Pochettino already red hot favourite for the vacant Aston Villa manager role

Scott Allen
21 October 2022

Mauricio Pochettino has been quickly installed as the odds-on favourite to replace Steven Gerrard at Villa Park.

Gerrard was removed from the Villa hot seat just a couple of hours after the 3-0 Premier League defeat at Fulham. The club have won just two of 11 league outings this term, with the former Rangers boss paying the price for poor form and results.

Pochettino has been out of work since leaving Paris Saint-Germain in July, despite leading the club to the Ligue 1 crown in the 2022/22 season. Crucially he failed to deliver Champions League success even with a wealth of talented players in his squad.

Bookies have 'Poch' at 3/5 to be the next man in at Villa Park.

The former Southampton, Spurs and Paris St-Germain boss would be a popular choice among the Villa fans, although he may think this is a step down from the French giants.

Former Arsenal boss Unai Emery and recently departed Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel are next in line at 4/1.

Emery is currently head coach of La Liga club Villarreal, who he won the Europa League with in 2021 and took them to the Champions League semi-finals last season. However, he has already turned down approaches from several English clubs recently including Newcastle United.

Tuchel reportedly has already knocked back two Premier League clubs who approached him after he left Chelsea in early September, and again the Villa job might be considered beneath a manager of his stature.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank is next up at 5/1, with Sean Dyche fixed in his usual of 4th or 5th favourite for every job in town at around 6/1.

Current flavour of the month Michael Beale, who was assistant to Gerrard at Rangers and Villa, rocks up at 8/1. However, the QPR boss only turned down Wolves on Thursday so seems unlikely he would jump ship for another struggling Premier League team.

The slightly longer odds manager are again a list of the usual suspects with Scott Parker (12/1), Chris Wilder (14/1) and Marcelo Bielsa (16/1) all in the mix.

If you really fancy chucking your money away you can get John Terry at 25/1, Rafa Benitez (25/1), Wayne Rooney (33/1), Thierry Henry (33/1), Jose Mourinho (40/1) and Roy Keane (50/1).