It’s the final weekend! Villa face Newcastle, with a beady eye on the Fulham v Everton game
Everton have lost every game they’ve played at Fulham since the Premier League’s inception. That’s 7 league losses and 1 cup loss. There we go. I started with something positive. So will it be a case of ’start as you mean to go on’ and this’ll be a positive post? I’ll come back to that question innabit.
Sunday we find ourselves intwined in the battle to stay in the top flight, as we play a team that are sitting 18th. The drop squad find the weekend as follows:
- Newcastle face the drop unless they get a better result than Hull, and could even still face the drop if they win.
- Hull face a Man Utd side that have already won the title and that have the Champions League final on Wednesday, so may well be a little easier to beat than normal.
- Middlesbrough can still survive mathematically but it’s very unlikely that all the pieces of that jigsaw will fall into place.
- Sunderland are the highest placed team that can still go down but they are playing Chelsea, so it’s by no means going to be easy. If they lose and both Hull and Newcastle win, they will be down.
As you can see it’s going to be an exciting finale, so can Villa resist the Toon’s desperate surge for survival or will we crumble to a loss that will cap off a terrible second half to what was looking to be a terrific season? It would certainly fit the bill of the last few months. We steam-rollered all the way through to Feb, winning games for fun but then it all came falling down.
It’s been quite a heartbreaking few months to be a Villa fan; the torrid run of losses being so much harder to bear after all those wins and then Martin Laursen announcing his retirement. I can honestly say that I was even more upset than when Take That split up!!
Prediction
A draw. I’m not just being boring when I say this, I honestly think it will be a draw. Newcastle will play scrappily in pure desperation and we will reply with much of the same as we struggle to take hold of the game when we aren’t on fire and running at teams. There will probly be goals but I think this has draw written all over it. Which means bye bye Newcastle, which will be just crazy. They are one of the most supported teams in the country and they won’t even be in the top flight. If it happens they may well implode because they have high profile and highly paid players that will be outta there (including Owen, Martins, Duff, Smith, Nolan, Viduka)
Why Villa should pay Fulham Millions of £’s if they keep us goalless
Brede Hangeland - He's bigger than John Carew, he's gonna score 1 or 2 (a season!)
Brede Hangeland.
The Norwegian centre back was linked with us whilst at FC Copenhagen, before joining Fulham, but he is again being rumoured to be on our transfer targets list and he would be a great acquisition if we could lure him. Would he want to move to a team that is only a few places above his current? Well, yes he probably would. We have guaranteed Europa League next season and could put a good kick into Fulham’s hopes of the same later today. We have also shown great potential with our form and league position a few months back.
Hangeland is currently playing alongside one of Villa’s former players, Aaron Hughes, and is commanding a good partnership there, which is exactly the kind of influence Villa are crying out for. With Laursen possibly hanging up his boots or being a bit-part player at best, we will desperately miss his leadership at the back. Many fans are very disappointed with Davies, Cuellar and Knight but with a good partner, any one of them could forge a good partnership. Take for instance Davies; he was good enough to be the main man for West Brom in the Championship but when he came to us he needed to have an inspirational player alongside him.
Hangeland could be the man. He will be just the age that is perfect for a centre half; 28. Old enough to be experienced and level-headed and young enough to still have a good few years on the clock. He is also the captain of the Norwegian national side don’t forget, so he’s already used to telling John Carew what to do. And at 6′ 5″ he’s big enough to too!
So keep your spare eye on him during today’s game Villans, we could be chanting his name next year.
Fulham game preview – Why Villa will win a 2nd game on the trot
Near the start of our sensational run we played Fulham and somehow they held us to a 0-0 draw. In my post match report I described our failure to score with this frustrated quote: “pull-your-hair-out, want-to-rip-your-arm-off-and-throw-it-in-the-net-just-so-something-would-go-in-the-damn-thing”. Frustrating was exactly what the game was for a Villan because we bombarded Fulham but were fruitless. It wasn’t quite as jaw-dropping as the Wigan game but it was still hard to believe they held us to a draw.
This time around I expect goals. I think they’ll score, but I think we’ll score one more. Like in the Vindaloo song.
Fulham are much better than many think and Roy Hodgson has done miles better than I ever guessed he would. He looks like he couldn’t inspire a team to even beat West Brom, but he’s taken Fulham into Europa League contention and they have a good chance of getting it with a 7th place finish. You really can’t judge a book by it’s cover.
Still, that’s enough compliments for our opponents. Tomorrow I see a rejuvinated Villa coming out and going at Fulham full force. The win against Hull wasn’t exactly much to write home about as they are in awful form and we played better in some of the draws, but the psychological effects of a win are way more than a good performance can give. I see a repeat of our bombardment on Fulham’s goal, but this time I see us breaking the deadlock at least twice.
I sincerely hope that the gaffer keeps the faith with John Carew and has him walking out at Craven Cottage. I remain convinced that he is our main goal threat and scoring the winning goal against Hull only served to further concrete that opinion. I am gutted that Gabby has lost his way, but I think he’ll get it back for next season. I don’t see him ever being better than he was early this season though, I feel that was his peak and the only way he can be that good again and maintaining consistency will be to play to his strengths. He has spent too long trying to add more to his game, but it hasn’t worked. Go back to what you do best Gab. What Gabby has going for him is when he’s in form he scares the crap out of defenderswith his pace. They don’t want to embarrass theirselves so they play deep and let us in. Gabby’s contribution to our game was as much through that psychological effect as his own actual strengths.
Injury and formation news for Villa ahead of the Hull clash
Earlier in the season we battled a win out of Hull, that big overturned decision by the referee stealing the headlines the following day, and Hull were still looking comfortable in the table. But now they are floating precariously close to the drop zone and we have yesterday fallen off our perch and now sit 6th. The game is massive for both teams, so expect a hard fought battle.
For a game such as this, we will need as strong a side as we can muster to give us every chance to win and go back 5th. So the injury news ahead of the game is thus;
- Luke Young could well see a return from injury, despite it not being fully healed. He hopes to play on for the final 4 matches before correctly dealing with his foot at the end of the season. Young was missed in the Bolton game, where Cuellar filled in for him meaning Zat Knight returned to the side.
- Nigel Reo-Coker is also back in contention, but is unlikely to get a start, unless it is out of position. NRC could be played at right back instead of risking Young, as MON has shown no problem this season with moving players around the park as he sees fit.
- Gabby Agbonlahor is fit to return to action, so who MON will pick up front is unsure. Last week it was the 2 big men but it is not expected to be the same again. We all know how much MON likes to keep the faith with Heskey, so I expect to see him and Gabby start this game. It would be an injustice though, as Carew is clearly our most in-form striker and should probably be given a run alone in a 4-5-1. Reco-Coko would jump at the chance to line up with Petrov and Barry would enjoy a more attacking role. Surely it’s worth a shot, nothing else seems to be winning us games at the moment. It won’t happen though, and we all know it.
- Martin Laursen and Wilfred Bouma remain on the sidelines.
We’re gonna win! We’re gonna win!… What would that be like?
I’m not actually anywhere near that confident. I’m trying to force some confidence into me (and you). I’m trying to make myself believe that this is the game in which we’ll get out of the rut and win for the first time in yonks. Does anyone remember the last game we won? It was just shy of 3 months ago! We beat Blackburn 2-0 up at their place with Milner and Gabby bagging the goals. Remember now? Only just.
Next up we had Everton in the FA Cup and that was when the results rot began. Form didn’t really drop so much, as we played great in the Chelsea game a week after the Everton loss, and for 80-odd minutes of the Stoke game. Even 45 minutes of the Man City game. And blah blah blah. It all means nothing if you are losing all the time though.
Since our last win we have conceded TWENTY SIX goals! That is far too many goals to concede when you WERE challenging the Top Four. We haven’t lost in the last 3 games, but if we want to make all of our early season efforts count for anything, we MUST win some of our last 4 games, if not all of them.
So will it happen tomorrow night? Maybe. On paper it looks possible; we’re one place off the top four, they’re one place off the drop zone. But the last 5 games of a season see the teams fearing the drop suddenly win unexpected games.
I’ll leave it on that cliff hanger, will we show why we’re 5th and win the game or will relegation fear drive Hull to upset us? Tomorrow night will tell us.
Do Bolton have any unknown 17-year olds waiting to punish us?
The last time we played a team who were in a losing streak was Manchester United. And nobody needs me to remind them of the heartache we suffered in the last 10 minutes up there. No-one needs me to say the word Macheda. So I won’t. I promise. Not even once.
Bolton have won just 1 in the last 6, and that was against Middlesbrough. Let’s be honest, a win against Boro this season is nothing to shout about is it? Everyone is beating them. Oh hang on, they beat us. At our place! Forget that then, back to Bolton; they’ve lost 4 of their last 6, only picking up points against teams in the drop zone.
So surely that’s good news for Villa. Maybe. Hopefully. But we are also in a horrible run of form and as mentioned, the last time we played a team in a losing streak, we took our foot off the gas with 10 minutes remaining and not only lost our win, we also lost the game. That must not be repeated. We have to play for 90 minutes. Or 95 it comes to that.
The Everton game was very encouraging in many ways, despite showing clearly that we have yet to plug the leaks at the back, at least we showed the resolve (aka balls) to fight back when 3-1 down.
If not going to make any predictions on this one, it’s a clash of 2 teams who badly need a win, so the strongest will survive.
Up The Villa
Match Preview: Bolton Wanderers Vs Aston Villa (by Betfair’s Gareth Freeman)
Earlier in the season the Villa smashed Bolton 4-2 at Villa Park. I doubt it will be so easy this time around but a Villa win is still very much on the cards. The Wanderers have been very poor over the last couple of weeks, they were beaten 3-1 by Fulham at the Reebok and limped to a 1-0 loss away at Fratton Park last weekend. They did manage to beat Middlesbrough 4-1 but in truth that result flattered Bolton and I very much doubt they’ll do the same against Aston Villa on Saturday.
In goal Jussi Jaaskelainen could be one of the best keepers in the league. He made a string of impressive saves against Pompey to ensure the score line was respectable but he is prone to the odd gaff as well. Jussi has been in good form this season and is a hard keeper to beat, but if Villa get enough chances this won’t matter a great deal.
In defence Gary Cahill may well be one of the best central defenders in the country. I genuinely have no idea why Villa let him go and for me Cahill is so much better than Zat Knight it’s almost criminal. It wouldn’t surprise me if the former Villa man moved on in the near future, if not this summer perhaps the one after, and he is the rock of the Bolton defence. The problem with the Bolton defence is Cahill’s partner, whoever that may be, Andy O’Brien has been making mistakes lately and I’m not sure Danny Shittu is cut out for the Premier League. The Wanderers also have Sebastien Puygrenier on loan from Zenit St Petersburg but the French centre-half hasn’t made a massive impact since he arrived at the Reebok. In Gretar Steinsson they have a quality right-back and former Villa man Jlloyd Samuel has been doing a good, if uninspiring, job at left-back.
The Bolton midfield is definitely a ‘work in progress’ for boss Gary Megson at the moment. I don’t know what the Villa fans thought of Gavin McCann when he was at Villa Park but in his time at Bolton I’ve noticed he doesn’t know which way forward is. Fabrice Muamba is very hit and miss, sometimes he looks amazing and other times clueless. Matt Taylor has been in fine form all season and is deadly when delivering free-kicks and corners, Taylor will probably be Bolton’s danger man on the day. Megson is still sweating on the fitness of Ricardo Gardner, the Jamaican has been Bolton’s bright-spark this season and about the only player who seems to be able to take people on and create things from nothing, if Gardner doesn’t play Villa will have an even greater chance of taking all three points.
No one really needs to be told about Kevin Davies, he works hard, has a better touch than most people expect and has popped up with quite a few goals this season. Record signing Johan Elmander has come under a lot of criticism for not scoring but the big Swede is another player with a fantastic work-rate and will tire out the Villa defence. Personally I’m not sure how much quality Elmander actually posseses but he does trouble defenders with his presence alone.
In truth this is a tie that could go either way. Villa and Bolton have played out a few cracking games over the years but I think this will be a cagey affair. I watched Villa against Manchester United and Everton and they were both games Villa perhaps deserved to win (especially Man U, turns out Fergie does seem to have some sort of factory producing wonder kids). Bolton haven’t looked very good for a while now but they still seem to be picking up the odd result here and there and they’ve still got relegation to worry about (sort of) so I’m expecting a low-scoring and nervous encounter between two teams fairly low on confidence.
by Gareth Freeman, a sports writer who writes about betting for Betfair.
FOUR. FIVE. ONE. It HAS to be!
Gabby Agbonlahor is out with a virus (which probably means a snotty nose) and Emile Heskey is out (thanks Fabio) which means that MON may well revert back to the fan favourite formation of 4-5-1. Carew (also the fan’s choice at present) should find himself alone up front today, with Milner and Young not far behind him on either side and Petrov, Reo-Coker and Barry in the midfield.
It’s not a forgone conclusion, we know how stubborn O’Neill can be, but the other likely option he could choose would be to give Delfouneso a start, which would also go down well with the fans. I’d be surprised to see him start the lad in such a crucial and difficult game though.
Also out for Villa is Carlos Cuellar, so we are well short at the back (as we have been for large parts of the season). The back four will most likely be Young, Knight, Davies and Shorey. Hopefully he won’t go with any of his hare-brained plans of playing midfielders at full back and/or full backs on the wrong sides. We will need to be tight at the back today and a mifielder with straying tendencies could well work against us.
Villa vs Everton – This could be one of the best games of the season
Whenever Man U play Chelsea it is billed as the greatest game for spectators to watch and pubs are packed. This is partly because of the amount of glory hunters who both these teams attract, so they have huge numbers of fans who will watch them in the pub but don’t go to the actual games and partly because everyone is expecting to see some real entertainment.
But often its not the case because both teams are weary of playing with too much flair incase they leave theirselves exposed. Whereas the 2 meetings of Villa and Everton this season have produced excellently entertaining and watchable games of football.
We nicked the first one in the dying seconds, after Everton almost nicked a draw in the dying minutes. Then they got revenge in the FA Cup, beating us 3-1 and knocking us out of the major domestic tournament. Both games were great to watch, so I’m expecting this one to be even better as there is now so much at stake.
Both teams are still chasing the glimmer of hope of finishing 4th and getting a bash at the Champions League (though more for the money and players it can attract for now, not entertaining the dream of winning it) and a loss in this game must surely end all hope. In fact a draw could be the final nail in the coffin for both, judging by Arsenal’s display yesterday.
The Gunners were 1-down at Wigan and it all started to look rosy for us for a while, but they hit back and won 4-1 so it looks like the injury woes are not hindering them in the way we had hoped.
The winner today is still in the fight, but whoever it may be will still be banking on Arsenal’s good form of late to slip.
Clash of the losing streaks
Villa travel up the M6 again on Sunday, exactly 2 weeks after the incident that we won’t mention. This time we will travel up there either feeling;
- Re-invigorated from the international break and ready to re-attack the Premier League, or
- Even more sheepish and crapping our pants that we will get another spanking.
I pray that it is option 1, but I can’t seem to kill off the devil on my shoulder telling me it’s option 2. Another humiliating defeat will drop our heads even lower than they already are.
So much has been made of ‘Villa’s demise’, but for some of it we haven’t played bad football. We made Chelsea really work hard for their victory, we outclassed Stoke for the vast majority of the game, we gave Spurs a torrid time in the first half, we had some good play against Man City, we even had our moments against Liverpool. The problems seem to be;
- Turning our chances into goals (I know, taking our chances has been a problem all season, but now we are having less of them it’s become more imperative)
- Remembering that a football game lasts 90 minutes!
So are things really as bad as the media will have you believe? Not quite, but if drop our guard on Sunday and get spanked then they will have a horrid end of season time.
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