Aston Villa are 4/5 with Sky Bet to make a successful return to the Premier League and avoid relegation next season.
Villa will dine at the top table of English football again after a three season absence following their 2-1 victory over Derby County in the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final.
Their Wembley victory not only delivers them £170 million but will also provide Dean Smith with his first taste of Premier League management.
Despite Villa's top flight pedigree, this will be a huge challenge for Smith, with history truly against his side, which sees them 10/11 to be relegated with Sky Bet.
Sky Bet Odds
- Aston Villa to avoid Premier League relegation - 4/5
- Aston Villa to be relegated from the Premier League - 10/11
- Aston Villa to finish in top half - 7/1
Odds correct as of on 27/05/19
Almost two-thirds of clubs promoted to the top flight via the play-offs since 1990 have gone straight back down - that's 18 of out of 29.
Recent history becomes even stronger against the Wembley winners, with four of the last five teams promoted this way - QPR, Norwich, Hull and Fulham - all failing to survive.
Huddersfield are the only club to buck the trend in that time, by finishing 16th in the 2017-18 season. However they were relegated the following season after finishing bottom.
If Villa need inspiration then they can look to West Ham, who hold the distinction as the only team to have twice been promoted and survived each of their first seasons up.
Even better, Manchester City followed up promotion from the third tier in 1999 by gaining instant promotion back to the Premier League the season after. The rest as they say, helped by Sheikh Mansour's money, is history.
Blackburn Rovers finished fourth in the Premier League's inaugural season - still the best-ever placing for a side immediately after promotion via the second tier play-offs.
But Villa should be confident of survival at least, if not better. Smith has brought back the feel good atmosphere to Villa Park and reunited a scared club since he became manager in October.
He's develop a side that is strong all over the park, can score goals in many different ways from many different players and finally became tight at the back.
Added to this he will now be confident of keeping inspirational captain Jack Grealish, who led Villa to, first, their club record run of 10 straight wins, which pushed them into the play-offs and, then, to promotion.
He, and Villa's new owners, will now have the money and the top-flight status to potentially make star loanees Tammy Abraham and Tyrone Mings permanent additions.
Having recently been in the top-flight for so many years it means, unlike a lot of newly promoted clubs, the Midlands outfit already meet all of the Premier League's infrastructure, stadium and administration regulations, which in turn means they can focus their £170 million windfall on their squad building, rather than upgrading their facilities.
