Farewell Fonz

Nomadic Northamptonshire squatting Coventry City have snapped up Villa's unwanted Nathan Delfouneso on a loan deal until the end of the season at which point the player's Villa contract expires..

The 22-year-old joins the Sky Blues up to and including June 30, 2014.

Delfouneso, a product of Villa's youth academy, was shipped back from Blackpool earlier this month. He has  represented England at every age group from the under-16s right through to the under-21s.

Steven Pressley said he was delighted to secure the services of the striker after fending off strong interest from elsewhere.

"Nathan had always been high on our shortlist for this window and we'd pursued him for a number of weeks so we are absolutely delighted to be able to bring him in," Pressley said.

"He has a great level of experience for somebody of his age and his ability is something we feel will give us the kind of attacking threat that we want.

"I have been saying throughout this month that we wanted to add strikers in this window so to get someone of Nathan's calibre through the door is exactly the kind of business that we want to be doing."

The player failed to make a massive impact on Villa's first team, finding himself well down the pecking order and will be hoping to revitalise his career at the League One outfit.

Match Preview: Everton v Aston Villa

Who are we playing?
Everton

Where are we playing?
Goodison Park, Saturday 3pm

Can I go?
Not unless you've already got your mitts on one of the measly 1,742 tickets we were allocated. Not many of them have a decent view either. It's about time Everton came into the 21st Century stadium-wise.

Can I watch it live on the telly?
Not on a UK channel no. Naughty pubs and dodgy webstreams only and there's always the risk you'll end up with Trevor Francis on the commentary.

Jennifer Ellison

Big game?
Massive. Roberto Martinez will be looking to bounce back after suffering humiliation at Anfield while every point is vital for the bottom eleven teams in a really tight relegation battle. We scared the bejeezus out them at Goodison last time. Hopefully we'll go one better this time.

Do Everton have any famous fans?

Well, there's Ed "Stewpot" Stewart of Junior Choice fame (ask yer Gran kids) and Jennifer Ellison, once of Brookside and now on seemingly every D-List "celeb" reality show going. There's also at least one of Atomic Kitten, but who really cares which one?

We've got Kris Marshall off of Death Up Paradise.

So we win.

Everton's treatment room must be standing room only

Who's playing for us?
Praying for a Gabby return. Ron Vlaar looked to be struggling a bit in the second half against the Baggies so we have to hope against hope that he's fit.

Who's playing for them?
Martinez currently has a treatment list as long as your arm. Oviedo's injury was particularly heartbreaking while the talismanic Lukaku has been ruled out for a few weeks. Ross Barkley's back playing after a short lay off but Everton's squad strength is being tested now and it's great time to be playing them.

Any useless stats?

Of course, here you go:

• We have to go back to 2008 for our last Goodison Park victory, winning 3-2 with Steve Sidwell opening the scoring after 31 seconds and two goal Ashley Young bagging the winner with just 12 seconds to go.

Ashley Young snatches victory for Villa

• You have to go back even further, to March 2006 for Everton's last Premier League win over us at their place, a brace from Tim Cahill helping them to a 4-1 triumph. Gabby Agbonlahor got our consolation goal.

• Honours are almost even between the two clubs. we have 79 wins to their 78 with 58 games ending in a draw.

• Despite Lambert bringing in several new faces in the summer, only three players (Bennett, N'Zogbia and Gabby) from the Villa team that started in the 3-3 at Goodison Park a year ago were missing from our team against the Albion on Wednesday.

He said, She said...
Roberto Martinez "As a club we’re ready to kick on and ready to challenge for big things. You look at the points tally in the league and it’ll give you a clear indication that we’re not far off."

Paul Lambert "You look at the table and there’s only five points between us and Southampton who are sitting ninth. I’ll judge the table more closely on the last game in May."

Prediction
Think there's goals in this one. Going for a cheeky 3-2 Villa win.

Villa 4 Baggies 3 as it was tweeted

Collymore responds to The Sun's Ulrika story

Stan Collymore took to Twitter last night to respond to The Sun's front page Ulrika Jonsson splash.

After a period of inactivity Stan's Twitter account is now alive again.

Under 21s: Everton v Villa as it was tweeted

Liam Bateman badly hurt in Under 21 game.

Liam Bateman has sustained a serious injury after being felled by a two footed tackle in an Under 21 clash with Everton at Goodison Park.

The game was held up for some ten minutes as Bateman received pitchside treatment while crying in agony. Many of Bateman's team mates were in tears as medics tended to the stricken defender while a distraught Janoi Donacien held his hand.

Both Gordon Cowans and his Everton counterpart Alan Stubbs were called onto the pitch by the referee to restore calm as emotions ran high.

Eventually Bateman was stretchered off the field with his right leg in a brace.

Match Preview: Aston Villa v West Bromwich

Who are we playing?
West Bromwich Albion

Where are we playing?
Villa Park, Wednesday, 7.45pm

Can I go?
You can. Loads of tickets left.

Can I watch it live on the telly?
Not on a UK channel no. Naughty pubs and dodgy webstreams only.

Big game?
Massive. Pepe Mel will be looking to kick start his new era and what better way to win over sceptical Baggies than with a victory over fierce local rivals.

After the worst sequence of home games that the vast majority of us can ever remember, the Villa faithful will be hoping that the positive footballing approach taken by Lambert's charges in the first half up at Anfield will translate to Villa Park. Home fans will also be keen to see loan signings Ryan Bertrand and Grant Holt in action after both men produced encouraging displays on Merseyside.

Cat Deeley supporting a Mickey Mouse outfit

Do West Brom have any famous fans?  
Well, bizarrely,  there's beloved tennis playing behemoth Goran Ivanisevic. There's also Cat Deeley, probably best known for the way her Brummie accent has started to fade away as she's slithered up the greasy pole of show business success.

While you're still imagining Cat slithering on a greasy pole, we'll point out that we've got bass guitarist Russell Leetch from popular group Editors.

So we win.

Who's playing for us?
Gawd knows. We'll all be hoping that the big gap between games means that we can get a few fit because we were rapidly running out of players up at Anfield.

Scott Sinclair's partner Mickey Flanagan

Despite the extended break, Gabby is still a big doubt after hobbling off with a sore foot against Liverpool, while the accident prone Nathan Baker should have shaken off his concussion to challenge Ciaran Clark for a place. Ciaran did well against a formidable Liverpool front line and will be keen to keep his starting berth.

Who's playing for them?
Don't know yet, but many of us are just thrilled that they've sold the dangerous Shane Long. Nic Anelka's participation will be in doubt after the FA decided to charge him over the quenelle incident.

Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

• Villa's rivalry with West Brom is one of the oldest in football, dating to an FA Cup tie in 1885. We drew 0-0 at our Wellington Road home before going down 3-0 in the replay at Four Acres.

• We gained sweet revenge two seasons later, beating the Baggies two-nil in the FA Cup Final at Kennington Oval.

• The first clash between the teams at Villa Park was in 1897, Fred Wheldon claiming a hat-trick as we ran out 4-3 winners.

• Albion's last win at Villa Park was in October 2011, goals from Jonas Olsson and Paul Scharner giving them victory after a Darren Bent penalty saw us go ahead.

• Marc Albrighton is the only survivor in the Villa squad from the starting line-up that last beat Albion in December 2010. Stewart Downing and Emile Heskey got the goals as we we won 2-1.

Pepe

He said, She said...
"People probably questioned why we brought in Holty, but I knew what I was getting - on and off the pitch. He's been bubbly.” Paul Lambert

“They are very good on the long play and with the second ball through Benteke. The players know this question and this week have worked hard on the pitch to stop the second ball and stop the counter-attack.” Pepe Mel



Prediction
Despite potential new manager bounce, we can't see a flat footed Albion being much of a threat and if Lambert sticks to his new improved positive tactics, a 3-1 Villa should be on the cards.