Cal the Dragon backs Aston Villa for Premier League top four finish in 2022-23

Football influencer Cal the Dragon has backed Aston Villa to challenge for the Premier League top four this season.

The TikTok star, who has 1.6m followers and 66.7m likes on his videos, was quizzed about which team could be a surprise package in 2022-23 and battle the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea.

He feels Steven Gerrard’s side, who finished 14th last term in the top-flight, could emerge as a shock contender to qualify for the Champions League.

Villa last finished in the top four in the 1995-96 season – which is also the year the Midlands club won their last major trophy, emerging victorious in the League Cup.

They were relegated from the Premier League in 2015-16 but returned three years later and have finished 17th, 11th and 14th since they made it back to the top.

‘I would say Aston Villa,’ Cal the Dragon told Metro Sport. ‘They’ve been underrated for quite some time.

‘They’ve been back in the Premier League for a while now and they have some ridiculous players when you think about it.

‘They’ve got John McGinn, Ollie Watkins, they’ve got a great goalkeeper in Emiliano Martinez. It’s the defence that needs a little bit of work.

‘Tyrone Mings has too many errors in him, so they could do with more of a solid backline.’

Cal the Dragon, who recently made his top four prediction for the upcoming Premier League season, feels Gerrard will be a good fit to one day become manager of Liverpool and feels he does not need to deliver silverware to prove himself.

‘Steven Gerrard, when he took charge of Rangers, I was a little shocked and he absolutely smashed it there,’ he added.

‘When Villa were linked I thought it would be a good move. When Jurgen Klopp leaves, it could be a great move [for Liverpool] to go in