Villa 0-1 Swansea as it was tweeted...

Fabian Delph is in the England Squad

Villa midfielder Fabian Delph has been selected by Roy Hodgson for England duty in the the two upcoming internationals.

There had been concern that a combination of Fab's injury woes earlier in the season and Villa's woeful form under Lambert had put the player's place in jeopardy.

However, the swift turnaround in Villa's fortunes under Tim Sherwood - with Delph showing new determination and belief in recent games - have no doubt helped the England manager to feel he can trust a player with three full caps so far.

Match Preview: Villa v Swansea City

Who are we playing?
Swansea City on Saturday 21st March 2015

Where are we playing?
Villa Park

Can I go?
Tickets remain available but going quite fast. Get in quick to make sure you get your favourite spot.

Easy to get to?
Should be an absolute doddle.

Can I watch it on telly?
Saturday 3 o'clocker so dodgy web streams or pubs with overseas satellite telly are your best bet.

Big game?
Huge.

Swansea will smarting at Liverpool's smash and grab of the three points on Monday and looking to get back on track here.

A couple of wins have made the Villa's survival chances a whole lot rosier but we are certainly not out of the woods yet and have no doubts that our survival plan will include picking up all the points here.

It's highly doubtful whether another team will give us the freedom to run the show in midfield that Sunderland did. The really gratifying thing about out display at the Stadium of Light is that the "sideways, backwards" football that we've had to suffer all season was replaced by some positive forward play.

We had energy and forward runners and played with drive and purpose.

There is still a lot of work to do and there will undoubtedly be setbacks but with a cracking and well deserved away win under our belts, a trip to Wembley to look forward to and a possible new owner waiting in the wings, things are starting to look hopeful again.

Do Swansea have any famous fans? 
Gawd knows. If they have, they keep it quiet. We believe Catherine Zeta-Jones might be, but we doubt she gets down there very often.

We've got fiddle playing scruffbox Nigel Kennedy.

So we win.

Who's playing for us?
Can't imagine they'll be sweeping changes to a winning side. It'll be interesting to see whether the returning Hutton gets the nod over Bacuna.

Who's playing for them?
Defender Federico Fernandez should return to action..

The Argentinian international missed Swansea's 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool on Monday night for family reasons.

Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

• Swansea City have beaten us 6 times while we have 15 wins. There have been 3 draws.

• We last beat Swansea City in September 2012, Matt Lowton and Big Chris Benteke getting a goal each in a 2-0 victory

• That win was our only victory in seven Premier League encounters with the Welsh club.

• The game prior to our European Cup Final with Bayern Munich was against Swansea City. We ran out 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Peter Withe, Tony Morley and Des Bremner.

Prediction
Going for a 2-1 Villa win.

Match Report: Sunderland v Villa as it was tweeted...

Match Preview: Sunderland v Aston Villa

Who are we playing?

Sunderland on Saturday 14th February at 3.00pm

Where are we playing?

Stadium of Light

Sunderland  

SR5 1SU

Can I go?

Allocation: 2,123 tickets, some left last time we checked on general sale.

Easy to get to?

Pigging miles away and the trains tend to be extortionate. Best bet is the coach for this one or drive up and do a stopover.

Can I watch it on telly?

Not officially screened in the UK so dodgy web streams and pubs with overseas satellite systems are your best bet.

Big game?

Huge.

Beating Albion twice in a week, a trip to Wembley in the offing and all the talk after the match being od#f the pitch invasion somewhat took attention away from the fact that our performance in the two games might have been Baggies-beating but was hardly world beating.

Still plenty for Tim Sherwood to do as he attempts to fashion the rabble that Paul Lambert assembled into something approaching a decent team.

Sunderland have tons of stuff going on that can weight negatively on a team struggling to survive, so it might be a good time to be playing them.

Certainly a Villa win would keep the momentum going and we remain desperate for the points. It may well be that a draw is a more realistic expectation.

Should we suffer defeat, the nerves and the bed-sheets will soon be back.

Do Sunderland have any famous fans?
Well there's Steve Cram off of the athletics and Heather Mills off of the tabloids. Some say Denise the agony aunt off of This Morning is also a Black Cats fan so she;s obviously had her fair share of suffering.

We've got heir to the throne the Duke of Cambridge.

So we win.

Alan Hutton

Who's playing for us?

Still injury niggles all over the shop but Timbo has been singing Charlie N'Zog's praises so we'd expect him to start. Remains to be seen if Big Chris can comeback after his hip thingy but we'd be disappointed if goal machine Scott Sinclair wasn't allowed to continue.

Young Jack and Alan Hutton are both suspended while Baker isn't fit whilr Senderos, the recovering Kozak and Chris Herd are long term absentees.

Who's playing for them?
Lee Cattermole has a two game ban having picked ten of the Black Cat's 70-odd yellow cards. Liam Bridcutt is his likely replacement

Any useless stats?

Of course, here you go:

• Sunderland have beaten us 54 times while we have 80 wins. There have been 45 draws

• Sunderland haven't beaten us since January 2011

• Our first ever meeting was a nil-nil on Boxing Day 1890

• Big Chris Benteke got a hat trick in famous 6-1 drubbing of The Black Cats in  Ap[ril 2013

Prediction

Going for a cheeky away three points by the odd goal.

Match Report: Villa 2-0 Albion

Match Preview: FA Cup Quarter Final: Aston Villa v WBA

Who are we playing?
West Bromwich Albion on Saturday 7th March at 5.30pm

Where are we playing?
Villa Park

Can I go?
Tickets were still available last time we checked but going very fast

Easy to get to?
Oh yes, if you can remember the way...

Can I watch it on telly?
Live on BBC One no less, hence the ludicrously inconvenient kick off time,

Big game?
Massive.

Three points might have taken some of the heat out of the league situation but will have done nothing but ramp up tensions for this one, with not just local bragging rights but a place at Wembley up for grabs.

With both clubs still fighting the spectre of relegation, the one result that nobody wants is a draw and a replay. We expect to see a more open encounter than the league game.

Certainly, some see the distraction of the cup as a bad thing, but who dreamt of finishing 17th as a kid kicking a tennis ball round the playground. The prospect of a trip to Wembley still excites and it would give the whole place a lift if we were to get there.

Do the Tesco boys have any famous fans? 
Well there's Goran Ivanisevic off the tennis and Adrian Chiles who recently moved back to radio, a medium for which he has the perfect face.

We've got fiddle playing scruffbox Nigel Kennedy.

So we win.

Who's playing for us?
Fair question. Shuffle the pack or stick largely with a winning side?  Alan Hutton has a two game ban after his hilarious challenge on Berahino, so they'll have to be changes at the back. It's been hard to predict Timbo's team selections so far so goodness knows who will start. With Wembley just a game away, everyone will be keen for a starting spot though.

Who's playing for them?
We're guessing Pulis will pick a similar line up to Tuesday.

He Said She Said

Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

Archie

• West Bromwich Albion have beaten us 53 times while we have 76 wins. There have been 35 draws.

• Our first meeting with Albion in FA Cup in 1885 ended goalless. Sadly Albion did us 3-0 in the replay at their place

• We got revenge two seasons later in 1887,  beating them them 2-0 in the Cup final at Kennington Oval. Goals from Dennis Hodgetts and Archie Hunter clinched it.

• In 1892, the Baggies avenged that defeat, beating us 3-0 in the final of that year, again at Kennington Oval.

• We met them yet again in the final in 1895, this time at Crystal Palace and we won 1-0 thanks to a Bob Chatt goal

• We knocked them out in the third round in 1914, winning 2-1. Joe Bache and Harry Hampton got on the scoresheet.

• In 1924 we beat them at the Hawthorns at the quarter final stage, winning 2-0. Les Capewell and Arthur Dorrell got the goals.

• Albion got their own back the following season, beating us 2-1 at Villa Park in a 3rd round replay.

• 1932 saw us paired in the 3rd round yet again. This time we ran out 2-1 victors at Villa Park thanks to George Brown and the legendary Eric Houghton.

• Billy Myerscough got winner in the 1957 Semi Final replay against the Albion in a match played at St Andrews after the original tie at Molineux had been drawn.

• Derek Mountfield and Tony Daley did the bizzo as we knocked our neighbours out 2-0 at The Hawthorns in the 5th round in 1990.

• Dwight Yorke netted twice and Simon Grayson and Stan Collymore also found the back of the onion bag as we trampled over Albion 4-0 in the 4th round in 1998.

Prediction
Going for a 3-1 Villa win...

1975 League Cup Final: Villa 1 Norwich 0

Match Preview: Aston Villa v West Brom

Who are we playing?
West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday 3rd March 2015

Where are we playing?
Villa Park

Can I go?
Tickets remain available because people aren't exactly flocking back despite Lambert departure.

Easy to get to?
The traffic situation in Birmingham is getting ridiculous to be frank. It only takes someone to break a fingernail on the Aston Expressway and the whole thing grinds to a halt.

Can I watch it on telly?
Live on BT Sport1.

It takes a worried man...

Big game?
Huge.

So much for new manager bounce.

While Tony Pulis has has taken no time in transforming the fortunes of our opponents and dragging decent performances out of his squad, Tim has little tangible improvement to show from two weeks at the helm.

There were a few encouraging signs in the Stoke game and we flattered to deceive for brief periods against Newcastle, but by and large we are still as shite and as goal shy as we were under Lambert.

Certainly the speed with with this fixture descends means there's precious little chance of any radical transformation, so the only way he could really shake things up to change the personnel.

We were surprised not only to see Carles Gil being left out of the action but Charles N'Zogbia getting in ahead of him.

It's a tad early for us to be criticising Tim's team selections but he's only just got here. We've been suffering Gabby just going through the motions for years and are in no mood to see him being yet another chance.

Who let the Cat on the bed?

Do West Brom have any famous fans? 
Skinner. Chiles. Deeley.

However, we've got fiddle playing scruffbox Nigel Kennedy.

So we win.

Who's playing for us?
The close proximity of this to the poor showing in Geordieland should encourage Tim to shuffle his pack again. No point having a settled side if you are settling for mediocrity. We'd persist with Big Chris because, while not back to his old self, there were glimmers of the Benteke of old at times on Saturday. Left back may continue to be an issue.

Despite the Under 21s being moved to train next to the first team, yet to see someone cross that divide. We may do soon if there is not a vast improvement from the big boys.

Who's playing for them?
Happily, all three of their strikers have injuries with Berahino and Brown Ideye limping off on Saturday while Victor Anichebe didn't make matchday squad.

Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

• West Bromwich Albion have beaten us 53 times while we have 75 wins. There have been 35 draws.

• Mark Clattenburg was a busy boy in this fixture last term, dishing out four yellow cards and awarding us a penalty which was duly despatched by Big Chris to give us a 4-3 win.

• We beat West Brom 2-0 in the FA Cup Final of  1887 at Kennington Oval thanks to goals from Dennis Hodgetts and Archie Hunter.

• Our biggest win came in 1899, a 7-1 thumping including a hat-trick from Billy Garraty
  

Prediction
Going for a Desmond (2-2).