Match Preview: Aston Villa v Southampton

Who are we playing?
Southampton, a team we mugged three points off in the winter with the aid of a cracking Delph goal.

Where are we playing?
A jittery Villa Park, 3pm Saturday

Can I go?
Bags of tickets left, they may even do a few late price reductions if they are struggling to sell 'em. If you've not got a season ticket but sometimes go, they may ring you up.

Can I watch it live on the telly?
Not legally in the UK no, however there are plenty of pubs with dodgy dishes and dubious web streams if you've not got a ticket but are desperate to watch as it happens.

Relegation dog fight

Big game?
MASSIVE.

It's not unusual for a team to drop like a stone on the run in and find themselves in the relegation cross-hairs. This season that team is US.

In our favour is that Southampton are largely playing for pride now and top performers Lallana and Lambert will have one eye on the plane to Rio and will be wary of picking up an injury, something foremost in their minds after seeing what happened to Jay Rodriguez. However, the Saints, or certainly their fans, will want revenge for what happened at St Mary's, while their manager will be looking for a positive response after their shock home defeat to Cardiff.

That three points to the Welsh team, coupled with Fulham's resurgence under Felix Magath, leaves Villa in very real danger of dropping out of the the top flight unless we start picking up points.

Out on his arse

Lambert's waffle about how the game could have gone either way after the Palace debacle hardly instills confidence, and now Villa most loyal band of followers - the away support - has turned on the beleaguered manager with chants of "Fuck off Lambert" and "You don't know what you're doing" ringing out in a boisterous Selhurst Park last week.

Worrying rumours are also emerging about spats among the coaching staff with big name players involved. Hardly the atmosphere of unity required to see us through a very difficult looking few weeks.

The really frustrating thing about the Palace game was that we looked competitive in the final few minutes when we finally started to play with width.

Lambert is setting up to play with fear rather than the boldness that hallmarked bits of his first season. If we are gonna play like that, we may as well have kept McLeish.

However, Tuesday's events, with Culverhouse and Karsa suspended and Sid Cowans and Shay Given thrown in the coaching mix could make a massive difference.

the drummer out of Coldplay

Do Southampton have any famous fans?
Hardly any but there is the drummer out of Coldplay.

We've got a couple of Weasleys from Harry Potter

So we win.

Who's playing for us?
Barring any training ground spats that might see players missing with mysterious or fictitious ailments, Lambert (if he's still there) should pretty much have the same bunch to choose from as against Palace. Leandro Bacuna missed that trip with a hamstring strain (so we're told) and if that's right, he'll be touch and go to be fit for this one, though the manager said he'd be back in his presser.

Who's playing for them?
Our spy in the south reckons subs Nathaniel Clyne and Sam Gallagher livened the Saints up in the latter stages of the Cardiff clash so maybe one or both of them might force their way into the starting line-up.

Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

• We have 28 wins over Southampton to their 22 wins. There have been 20 draws.

• Our last Villa Park success against Southampton came back in August 2004. Darius Vassell and Carlton Cole were the scorers as we ran out 2-0 victors. Uriah Rennie was the ref.

• Southampton's last win at Villa was in January 2013, winning 1-0 nil thanks to a Rickie Lambert penalty won by Jay Rodriguez's cynical dive when Edna Stevens didn't even touch him. It was a tough defeat for Villa fans to take, hot on the heels of the cup exit to Bradford. Villa had ample chances to win the game but Benteke was firing blanks that day.

Diving git

• Villa's first encounter against Southampton was on 5th September 1936 at Villa Park. Dai Astley, Ronnie Dix, Gordon Hodgson and Frank Broome were the scorers as we won 4-0.

He said, She said...
“Against Aston Villa we will face a very tough team, a very physical side, a very difficult ground but our focus is to win.” Mauricio Pochettino

"I love it here. It’s a great club, great fanbase, I never came to Villa to be like this.The club is too big to be where it is. I recognised that when I came through the door on day one. This club should not have been where it has for the last four years." Paul Lambert

Prediction
Villa have had a habit of surprising the better teams and if we start well - a early goal could be crucial to keep the crowd on side - and then stick to the task, a Villa win isn't beyond the realms of possibility, so we are bravely predicting that (well @dekhogan is, blame him).