It would be very difficult for Aston Villa to replicate their form of last season, they now play in the Champions League, thus more games, a game every 3 days means a tighter schedule, more fatigue and it is difficult for smaller teams to cope with it. In the 2022/2023 season, Newcastle were the dark horse, look what happened to them in 23/24 season when they played in the CL, i fear that's what's going to happen to Aston Villa this season. I might also add that they lost Douglas Luiz, who moved to Juventus, he was a very important player for them last season.
I agree with you that it is going to be a very long and probably hectic season ahead for Aston Villa. They now have mid week fixtures courtesy of the champions which is now even two games longer than before and as such i also believe it will affect the club’s league form this season. But I don’t think it will affect it as much as it affected Newcastle last season and my point is Newcastle had a manager that hasn’t been in the European premier competition before but with Unai Emery, Aston Villa have someone with much needed experience to guide them through this long fixtures. Secondly Newcastle United were heavily struck with Injuries last season and that to me also affected their form but if Aston Villa could keep a fit squad then they could be able to get a better campaign in Europe and the league than them.
Aston Villa also have loss two key players in Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby but to me they have no excuse because the club currently have the best replacement for the two players. Amodu Onana is one talented midfielder that I think is a good replacement for Douglas Luiz while the depart right wing position by Diaby is filled with either Duran or Leon Bailey with both capable of doing their jobs perfectly there. So I think they have been able to replace their departed players well enough to not use that as a reason for failure
