The Premier League celebrated its 30th birthday this week.
And to mark the anniversary, we're taking a closer look at the players, seasons and goals that have defined Aston Villa's time in the competition via a series of features.
Here we delve into the highs, lows and magic moments from Villa's journey through the 1990s...
The claret and blue shirts were baggy, the players were iconic and the football was fierce – Aston Villa in the 1990s was a force to be reckoned with.
Villa embraced the arrival of the Premier League in 1992 and often excelled before the decade came to an end.
Dalian Atkinson was the first Villan to score in the competition when he bagged the equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town on the opening day.
The goals of Atkinson – including the unforgettable solo effort at Wimbledon and umbrella celebration that followed – and Dean Saunders fired the club into a title tussle with Manchester United that ultimately ended in a second-place finish.
Welshman Saunders finished as the club’s top scorer in the Premier League for the first three seasons as Villa followed up their inaugural campaign by finishing 10th and 18th.
Brian Little’s first full season in charge (1995/96) propelled Villa back to the higher reaches of the top flight, with Mark Bosnich, Ugo Ehiogu, Dwight Yorke and the enigmatic Savo Milosevic among those to deliver a fourth-place finish.
The League Cup trophy was also back in the cabinet two years after Ron Atkinson had masterminded a Wembley win, adding to the feel-good factor around B6.
The departures of club legends Nigel Spink and Paul McGrath at the beginning of the 1996/97 campaign failed to halt the club’s momentum, with fifth place secured largely thanks to the defensive efforts of Ehiogu, Alan Wright, Steve Staunton, Fernando Nelson and Gareth Southgate.
Four straight defeats to open the 1997/98 season were the beginning of the end for Little, who was replaced by John Gregory after a terrific tenure.
Eight wins in the final nine games salvaged a seventh-place finish for the new man, who blooded 17-year-old Gareth Barry in the final month of the season.
Jlloyd Samuel, Darius Vassell, Paul Merson, Dion Dublin and Steve Stone were among the new recruits charged with spearheading Gregory’s new era, but it was one of Little’s signings, Julian Joachim, who led the way in 1998/99.
A little and large partnership with Dublin saw Joachim excel, bagging 14 league goals as Villa mounted an early title charge before falling away to a sixth-place finish.
The decade came to an end with Villa sporting claret and blue stripes once again, fighting for a place in the upper reaches of the Premier League as they headed into the new millennium.
Enjoy a gallery of pictures from Villa in the 90s below!
