Villa saw out a gritty 2-2 draw at Goodison last Saturday, in which the team did not play its best football- in fact, Big Eck himself called the team's first half "insipid"- but excellent goalkeeping from Shay Given and last-ditch defending from Richard Dunne, James Collins and even Darren Bent kept the Villans in the game enough to equalize twice. The first Villa goal was an absolute beauty from skipper Stiliyan Petrov, the second a powerful header from Gabby Agbonlahor, who turned in an inch-perfect cross from substitute Marc Albrighton. And so Villa head into this weekend still undefeated and sitting in 8th place on six points.
Villa face Newcastle, who had their flying start cooled by a nil-nil draw with Queens Park Rangers yesterday, but are currently sitting fourth in the table. Villa will be without loan signing Jermaine Jenas, who has a "kicking strain" whatever that is, and man-mountain Emile Heskey, who came off at 18 minutes with a hamstring strain at Goodison and will be out for the next few weeks. Newcastle, meanwhile, should see a fully fit squad make the trip to the Midlands.
Capital Villans will be taking in the match at The Queen Vic, on 12th and H NE. It's also the day of the H Street Festival, so come out at 10 a.m. EDT for the match and make a day of it!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
After the Interlull, of course we're delayed: Everton v. Aston Villa, 10 September 2011
A 2-0 win over Hereford followed by a nil-nil at home to Wolves sees Villa fixing to play Bolton in the League Cup and seventh in the table heading into the weekend clash with Everton after Euro 2012 qualifier/International friendly weekend. Villa had a few stars in action- Richard Dunne and Shay Given helped power Ireland to a nil-nil draw with Russia despite Dunne wearing a kit that required a Sharpied-on number; Scottish midfield whiz Barry Bannan had an assist in the Tartan Army's 1-0 triumph over Lithuania, while newboy Alan Hutton played in the 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic; Darren Bent missed both England matches against Bulgaria (during which Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov was kinda overrun as the Three Lions won 3-0) and Wales.
Bent's a doubt for the trip to Goodison Park; his missing would key an opportunity for either Bannan, Stephen Ireland, or new signing Jermaine Jenas to pull the strings, as Alex McLeish has suggested he would slide Emile Heskey up in the formation in Bent's absence. Expect new fullback Alan Hutton to make his debut, barring McLeish sticking with Australian(but maybe Scottish!) midfielder Chris Herd in the role, as Herd won man of the match for erasing Wolves' Wing Wunderkind Matt Jarvis from the match.
The match will be shown on a delay on Fox Soccer Plus- plan to convene at 4:30 at the Queen Vic. Your humble auhtor will, however, be heading to the woods of Harpers' Ferry during that time. So enjoy in my absence!
Bent's a doubt for the trip to Goodison Park; his missing would key an opportunity for either Bannan, Stephen Ireland, or new signing Jermaine Jenas to pull the strings, as Alex McLeish has suggested he would slide Emile Heskey up in the formation in Bent's absence. Expect new fullback Alan Hutton to make his debut, barring McLeish sticking with Australian(but maybe Scottish!) midfielder Chris Herd in the role, as Herd won man of the match for erasing Wolves' Wing Wunderkind Matt Jarvis from the match.
The match will be shown on a delay on Fox Soccer Plus- plan to convene at 4:30 at the Queen Vic. Your humble auhtor will, however, be heading to the woods of Harpers' Ferry during that time. So enjoy in my absence!
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