The three best candidates for the vacant Aston Villa managerial role

By Harry Elliott

Going into the current international break languishing in 19^th position in the Sky Bet Championship, Dr. Tony Xia, owner of Aston Villa decided the timing was right to pull the trigger and fire incumbent manager Roberto di Matteo.

Villa have had a very poor, sluggish start to the season, winning just once and drawing on seven occasions. Villa were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Luton Town, and registered their only win against rock bottom side Rotherham United. They then went on to draw every single match in September after losing 3-1 to Bristol City despite leading at half time.

Hovering just two points above the drop zone is definitely not something the Villa faithful would have envisioned after 11 games played. Clearly something had to change, and unfortunately for Roberto di Matteo, after breaking the Championship transfer record on Jonathan Kodjia, lost his job.

So here are three potential next managers for Aston Villa: