Saturday 27 December 2014

John Gregory faces open heart surgery and quits Crawley Town

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Match Preview: Aston Villa v Manchester United

Who are we playing?
Manchester United on Saturday 20th December at 3pm

Where are we playing?
Villa Park

Can I go?
Tickets remain available

Easy to get to?
Should be an absolute doddle, though the German Market and Christmas Shoppers can mean it's a bit hectic if you have to go through town.

Can I watch it on telly?
Saturday 3 o'clocker, so not officially available on UK telly, though there are plenty of web streams and loads of pubs will screen the game live.

Big game?
Huge.

Louis Van Gaal may have been criticised for failing to strengthen defensively when he spunked loads of cash on new players, but it's still early days for his version of United and he has a staggering array of attacking talent at his disposal.

Way too early to judge Van Gaal as yet but it's clear he has his team heading in the right direction and this despite being badly hampered by injuries.

Villa's mini-winning streak came to an end at The Hawthorns with a typically negative performance from Lambert's charges. The sending off of Richardson probably didn't help matters but a poor Albion team were there for the taking and until we went a goal behind, we didn't seem to be trying that hard.

Ten goals for sixteen games is a ludicrously poor state of affairs, but Lambert seems oblivious, still bandying the word "excellent" about while his team seem to lack any sort of creativity.

Benteke is being forced to feed off scraps and he deserves better.

We certainly do.

Do United have any famous fans? 
Well there's Simply Red's Mick Hucknall and Countdown brainbox Rachel Riley

We've got fiddle playing scruffbox Nigel Kennedy.

So we win.




Who's playing for us?
Alan Hutton
Richardson's red card rules him out, Cleverley can't play as he is still on United's books (and he'd have missed the game due to suspension any way) while Alan Hutton is ruled out having chalked up five bookings.


Fabian Delph is a likely starter having returned from the bench while Ron Vlaar will hopeful of reinstatement to the the starting line up if he can dislodge the Okore-Clark partnership.



Who's playing for them?
United are praying that Marcos Rojo is fit in time with Daley Blind and Luke Shaw currently unavailable and Jonny Evans and Jones having just returned.

He said, She said
coming soon

Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

  • United have beaten us 95 times while we have 49 wins. There have been 35 draws.
  • 19 long years have passed since we beat United at Villa Park in a league match, a desperate state of affairs.Ian Taylor was amongst the Villa scorers as we ran out 3-1 winners in the infamous "You can't win anything with kids" game. David Beckham came off the bench to score United's consolation.
  • Our last win against United was five years ago at Old Trafford, Gabby Agbonlahor with the only goal.


Prediction
Going for a 3-0 United win.

Friday 5 December 2014

Match Preview: Leicester v Villa

Who are we playing?
Leicester on Monday 7th December at 4pm-ish

Where are we playing?
Villa Park

Can I go?
Despite us ending an 80 day run without a win, tickets are hardly flying off the shelves, plenty left.

Easy to get to?
Should be an absolute doddle, though the German Market and Christmas Shoppers can mean it's a bit hectic, even of a Sunday,  if you have to go through town.

Can I watch it on telly?
We are the feature game on Sky Sports Super Sunday. Yet bear in mind that if you choose to watch at home or in the pub, Paul Lambert won't be able to hear you when you tell him how shite he is.

Big game?
Huge.

We haven't won a home since the victory over a poor Hull City team. Leicester City got off to a decent start but have dropped like a stone in recent weeks.

If Lambert's men, whatever you think of his tactics, can't squeeze a win out of this one we as well all pack up and go home.

It was almost inevitable that Joe Cole would hobble off injured in the game following his lively display against Burnley and so it turned out.

Palace were camped in our half for large wodges of the midweek game and while some would take comfort in that there was some resolute defending on display, others would be more worried at our own lack of creavity and the ease with which Palace  ghosted past our full backs.

Luckily for us, there was no end product from the south London side and Big Chris Benteke was able to create a moment of magic to nick the points. Lack of goals remains a massive issue for us though.


Do the Foxes have any famous fans?
Well there's jug earred goal hanger and master of cringeworthy puns on Match of the Day, Gary Lineker.

We've got fiddle playing scruffbox Nigel Kennedy.

So we win.


Who's playing for us?
Joe Cole was subbed after just eight minutes during Tuesday's win at Crystal Palace and he is now set to miss the clash with rock-bottom Leicester as a result, although he could be fit for the trip to West Brom the following weekend.

Villa are also without defenders Ron Vlaar, Philippe Senderos (both calf) and Nathan Baker (knee) for Sunday's game but all three are close to coming back.

Midfielder Fabian Delph (shoulder) and striker Libor Kozak (broken leg) remain long-term absentees.


Who's playing for them?
Wes Morgan is suspended.

Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

  • Leicester have beaten us 39 times while we have 31 wins. There have been 23 draws.
  • Last time we beat Leicester at Villa Park, it was October 2003. Substitute Thomas Der Hammer Hitzlsperger came on to nab the only goal.
  • Our last meeting with the Foxes was back in September 2007, a Matt Fryatt goal being enough to knock us out of the Carling Cup.
  • We've only managed 3 wins over bogey side Leicester in the Premier League era

Prediction
Going for a 2-0 Villa win and a goal at the Holte End.
 
Google+