Match Preview: Aston Villa v Norwich

Who are we playing?
Norwich City

Where are we playing?
Villa Park at the ludicrous time of 4.30pm (blame the Capital One Cup Final)

Can I go?
Tickets on general sale so yes, you can indeed.

Can I watch it live on the telly?
You certainly can if you (or your pub of choice) have the delights of Sky Sports who are screening the game after said cup final.

Big game?

Massive! Six Pointer!

Newcastle's last gasp winner has only increased the jitters amongst the Villa Park faithful with a tirade of vitriolic rage spewing across social media and local radio against Lambert and his tactics. Ironically, in terms of performance it was one of our better displays (miles better than the one at Southampton in which we squeaked a win) and were Benteke not still in search of his missing mojo, we'd have won up in Geordieland.

Delia Smith as you've never seen her before

The limitations of Lambert's squad were starkly shown up though when the hapless Sylla was called upon to replace what had been a highly effective Ashley Westwood.

Norwich managed to make those jitters worse a few hours later with an impressive and deserved win over a Spurs side hampered with the curse of the Europa League.

Villa wins are rapidly becoming as rare as hen's teeth and home ones markedly so, therefore it's vital that Lambert gets all three points here. It's also vital that whether we play brilliantly or we struggle, the crowd stays right behind the lads for the duration of the game. Hold your derision till the final whistle.

Never think that your contribution makes no difference, it absolutely does.

Let's just hope that Delia is swigging the cooking sherry and not the champagne on Sunday night.

Come on Myleene, Too-Rye-Ay

Do Norwich City have any famous fans?
Well there's Stephen Fry off of QI, annoying yapping puppy of a TV presenter Jake Humphrey from BT(Bloody Terrible) Sport and Myleene Klass who used to be in a pop group with her off of Coronation Street.

We've got Ian Bell.

So we win.



Who's playing for us?
Rumours out of Denmark on Sunday suggested that Jores Okore was a lot closer to a comeback than we'd been lead to believe but we'll take that one with a pinch of salt.

As ever Lambert will want to play his team availability close to the chest but there must be worries over the substituted Ashley Westwood and Ryan Bertrand while never-out-of-the-wars Nathan Baker also took a hefty knock.

We're convinced that out-of-sorts Benteke would have been rested again had Libor Kozak still been available and it'll be interesting to see whether Grant Holt gets the chance to start against his old club. Andi Weimann's unfocused performance must make him a prime candidate for the drop.

Who's playing for them?
Villa target Wes Hoolahan made a rare cameo late on in the Spurs game. Sod's law would indicate that he'll make a small but telling appearance in this one. let's hope not eh?

Snodgrass wasn't just the goalscorer but also the key man in Norwich's win over Spurs so we'll have to keep an eye on him.

Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

• Villa's first meeting with Norwich was on the 19th December 1936 and we ran out 3-0 winners with the legendary Frank Broome getting on the scoresheet.

• We have 28 wins to Norwich's 17. There have been 16 draws between the clubs.

• Norwich's last win at Villa Park was way back in 1992. They ran out 3-2 winners with Darren Beckford among the scorers. Ray Houghton and Dean Saunders got the Villa goals.

• In 1984, Villa gained revenge over Norwich, having been knocked out of the FA Cup by them in a replay, Villa returned to Norfolk a few days later to win a Milk Cup Quarter Final clash 2-0 with Paul Rideout and Gary Shaw getting the goals.

He said, She said...

“We are conscious of the fact we are not scoring enough goals. Certainly confidence comes into play and a level of composure and maybe even a touch of good fortune. We are buoyed by the fact we are creating chances, but we need to put a higher percentage away. There is nobody working harder than myself and the coaches to remedy that"  Chris Hughton


“Unless it’s Birmingham or West Brom, where it’s a big game for the fans, there’s no rivalry.They’re Norwich, they’re a million miles away from us in the country so it’s just another game for us.” Ashley Westwood

Prediction
One swallow doesn't make a summer and Norwich's shock success against Spurs shouldn't worry us. Going for 4-2 Villa victory in a game to rival the one against the Baggies.