Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Holiday Hiatus II: Electric Boogaloo- Villa v. Spurs, 26 December, 12:30 p.m. EST

After snow and the concerns of Wigan-area police for travelling supporters cancelled last Saturday's match, Villa head into a packed Festive program full of challenges.  The program opens with Tottenham coming to Villa Park on Boxing Day, and is followed by visits to Manchester City on the 28th and Chelsea the day after New Year's, returning home to take on Sunderland on the 5th.

Transfer speculation has also heated up with the window set to open on New Year's Day; Villa has already made one move, dealing the Ginger Ghost, Steve Sidwell, to West Ham.  Sidwell never really found a permanent place in the Villa team, and often spent time out tending to achilles tendon injuries.  His skills as a ball boy, however, will be missed.

As for match preparations, Villa should have the majority of its squad back healthy.  Injured captain Stiliyan Petrov and young midfielders Fabian Delph and Gary Gardner have all returned to training.  Spurs, who sit fifth, should also have a full squad to choose from, with Rafa van der Vaart returning from injury.

Capital Villans leadership will once again be out of town, but anyone still around and interested can catch the action at Lucky Bar, at the intersection of Connecticut and 18th NW, who will have the match on at 12:30.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Trap Matches and the Joy of Tape-Delay: Wigan v. Aston Villa POSTPONED

Well, last week was a whole lot better, wasn't it?  With Emile Heskey returning to bag the winner, Carlos Cuellar returning to the backline, and American Eric Lichaj making his first EPL start, Villa showed a lot more fight going forward and composure at the back in securing the 2-1 win.

Looking to build on that, Villa travel to the Wigan Rugby Ground (The DW Stadium) to take on Wigan Athletic. Nigel Reo-Coker, after making a late substitute return, should be returning to the first XI, as should Gabby Agbonlahor, fresh off of an illness that kept him out of the West Brom match.  Stiliyan Petrov and Fabian Delph (both knee injuries) and Steve Sidwell (achilles) are out, with all three expected to return in January. Fresh reports are claiming that Ashley Young, who put in a pure captain's performance last weekend, could be a miss through the entire Christmas schedule with ankle ligament injuries.  If true, that would be a major miss, as Villa follow this match by hosting Tottenham on Boxing Day, travelling to Manchester City two days later, and then to Chelsea right after the New Year.

Wigan, who currently sit in 18th, will be missing quite a few of their players, with Henry Thomas and Maynor Figueroa on suspension, and Emerson Boyce, Franco DiSanto, Benni McCarthy and Victor Moses all injured.

The Capital Villans will be at Fado for the match, which will be shown as the late game on Fox Soccer Channel. So avoid the score, and join us at the humane hour of 5:00 p.m.  See you there!  The match has been postponed due to the Big Freeze 2010 in England.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

We need a win- Villa v. West Brom- 11 December 2010,10:00 a.m. EST

What a bad week.  A humiliating first half against Arsenal, getting dropped out of the Carling Cup by the Clowns down the road, and a miserable performance at Anfield before which our manager almost walked into the home dressing room. . .

Aston Villa needs a win.  Badly.

The Villans welcome Midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion to Villa Park this Saturday.  The last time the Baggies visited B6, two seasons ago, Villa was triumphant, 2-1, with former Albion skipper Curtis Davies scoring the first goal.

West Brom currently sit ninth, five points ahead of Villa.  They will face injury doubts for leading scorer Peter Odemwingie and midfielder Chris Brunt.

Villa, meanwhile, will receive injury boosts, with Emile Heksey, Barry Bannan, Carlos Cuellar and Habib Beye all returning to full match fitness for the weekend; Ashley Young returns after missing the Liverpool match on suspension.  Vice-captain Nigel Reo-Coker has also returned to full training, but is a doubt to play on Saturday.  Ciaran Clark will miss through suspension, having picked up his fifth yellow card of the season at Anfield.  Steve Sidwell and Stiliyan Petrov are both a couple of weeks away from full training after achilles and knee injuries, respectively.  Young midfielders Fabian Delph and Gary Gardner, meanwhile, can expect to remain on the shelf until January as they both recover from knee injuries.

The Capital Villans will be taking the match in at Lucky Bar, on 18th and Connecticut (Just south of Dupont Circle.  See you there at 10:00 a.m. EST