Match Preview: Aston Villa v Stoke City

Who are we playing?
Stoke City from the Potteries

Where are we playing?
Villa Park Sunday 4pm

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 though you are likely to have to suffer Gary Neville.

Mark Hughes on the end of a 3-0 beating at Villa Park

Big game?
Six pointer.

Villa fans have been heartily fed up with the fare on offer at Villa Park this season and booing has become common place.  However, two wins on the bounce and with a packed Villa Park buzzing again after forcing another Villa Park failure on Jose Mourinho, the tide may well have turned and if Villa can consolidate this in the next one, it will lead to a far more comfortable run-in.

So tight is the league that any game against a team in the bottom half takes on vital significance but there is added spice against a fellow Midlands team and it's always nice to put one over on Mark Hughes, so we're praying for a both a decent performance and all three points.

Points on the board we certainly still need. With our last two games of the season now both away at formidable opposition, it's beyond vital that we make hay while the sun shines.

Did a cocaine snorting Frank spend time with prostitutes?

Do Stoke City have any famous fans?  
Apparently not, no. There was Frank "Grandstand" Bough who used to be famous until his recreational activities did for his career. There was also Nick Hancock who mentioned Stoke City at every available opportunity when he was on the telly, which might explain why he's not on it anymore.

We've got Nessa out of Gavin and Stacey.

So we win.

Mrs. Crouch

Who's playing for us?
Ryan Bertrand will available again after loan rules ruled him out of the Chelsea triumph, although Joe Bennett's encouraging performance against the London club may mean that Ryan won't just walk back into the team.

Who's playing for them?
Stephen Ireland got a start and an assist against West Ham and it would have certainly livened things up noise-wise were he to start on Sunday. However, it's reported that Villa insisted on a clause preventing him from playing us when he was sold, so we won't get to boo him, which is a pity. Another ex-Villa man, little Peter Crouch is a likely starter, though he's now more famous because his missus won Strictly

Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

John Carew breaks Stoke City hearts

• Villa have beaten Stoke City on 50 occasions, while the Potters have managed 30 wins and 30 games have been drawn.

• We have to go back 26 years to find Stoke City's last win at Villa Park. A shock 1-0 victory for the visitors put a spoke in the wheels of Villa's promotion push. We have to go all the way back to November 1965 for Stoke's last top flight success on Villa soil, another slim 1-0 win.

• Mind you, Villa haven't managed a home win over Stoke since 2009. John Carew netted the decisive goal that day. 

• Villa are likely to field a much changed team from the one that took on Stoke in December. Matt Lowton, Ciaran Clark, Chris Herd, Marc Albrighton, Aleksander Tonev and Libor Kozak all started that game.

He said, She said...

Winner of our Barbara Dickson lookalike contest

"It will be a very difficult game, but we know that we can go there and come away with a positive result. They have been a little inconsistent at home this year, but they have had two good results in recent weeks. We can go there though and impose ourselves on them and that is what we will be looking to do." - Mark Hughes

"I don't think anybody would have thought we would have a chance of winning three successive home league games. Now we've an opportunity to do it and get rid of that seven-year thing." Paul Lambert

Prediction
No game against Stoke can ever be described as easy, but if Villa go about things the right way, we can win this one. It may well help us that Mark Hughes will be less inclined to sit back than his predecessor. Going for a 3-1 Villa win.