If an ad appeared on your screen with the caption “Villa Park – the home of the fifth biggest club in England”, it could probably cause a stir that might eventually see that ad criticized or labelled as outright bollocks. A further look will prove that Aston Villa are indeed a big club and by normal standards they should be in the Premier League’s “top six” – according to Betway following some extensive research.

Going by the major criteria for judging club standards which is trophies won, Aston Villa should actually rank fifth in England’s top flight.

Manchester City for all of their recent dominance in English football have only six Premier Leagues to show for. We all expected more from a team valued at more than a $1bn in total as per CIES Football Observatory. Correct? Tottenham even speak worse volumes as they have only two league titles to their name.

Put this into context with an Aston Villa side who have won seven league titles to show for and you can sense a hint of bias when the big clubs are mentioned in England. Chelsea even have one less league title than the Villains but it is on the basis of European trophies won that sets the Blues higher apart than the West Midland side.

Moving further, it gets more interesting when you realize Villa have a European title to their name yet the likes of Tottenham and City have missed out on the holy grail of the Champions League on numerous occasions.

It then leaves us with the ultimate rhetorical thought. If Aston Villa have more trophies than the likes of City and Spurs both domestically and in Europe, why aren’t they classed in the same bracket?

Another interesting aspect is the spending power of clubs. It is perhaps this reason that the so-called “big six” have been given preferential treatment. For instance, the owner of Chelsea has got more money than Villa, so he made Chelsea into a big club. But actually, traditionally, Aston Villa are a bigger club than Chelsea if you go back over the years. If Roman Abramovich had gone to Villa, they’d be in the same position as Chelsea. Right?

Despite all of that, Villa upon their return to the Premier League after ending their three-year stay in the championship coughed out a lot of money over the summer. Their £144.5m spent on 12 players put them at second out of all EPL clubs only behind Manchester United who spent £148m as per the same source.

Aston Villa might have ranked ninth as per a table compiled via votes from fans but the reality is that they deserve some spots better.