One of the more interesting pieces of Aston Villa news to emerge during the international break was the club’s intention to include a clause in future contracts that would oblige players to live within 30 miles of Bodymoor Heath. Or at least have a base to use during what constitutes a “working week” for a Premier League footballer.
The rule is unlikely to be enforced to the letter, I’m sure living 31 miles away won’t be an issue, but the spirit
The qualification for Euro 2012 is almost done. England will be in Poland and/or Ukraine next summer after comfortably finishing top of Group G, albeit by handing Motenegro an unlikely point and a place in the play-offs in the final game. Ireland also made it to the play-offs, and could be drawn against Montenegro, but Wales and Scotland miss out once again.
England: Ashley Young provided a rare headed finish to an even rarer superb delivery from Theo Walcott. Young then
Carlos Cuellar got on the pitch last night for the first time since his knee operation in May, playing 45 minutes in the reserves’ 1-0 win over Chelsea – Callum Robinson with the goal – and says that he’s feeling good.
That’s great news for a very popular player, but what happens from here remains to be seen. It seemed likely that Rangers would have pursued their interest to conclusion during the summer had it not been for his knee
The Young Lions returned to NextGen Series action last week, hosting Fenerbahce at Villa Park in an entertaining 4-0 romp. Samir Carruthers got no less than his early hard work deserved when he opened the scoring, captain Gary Gardner doubled the lead from the spot.
Callum Robinson made it three after the break and Daniel Johnson capped a stunning breakaway with a well taken goal to finish the Turks off. The video below is well worth your time.
The next match will
Wigan Athletic were finally beaten in the league at Villa Park in a comfortable win for the home side thanks to a goal in either half. The first, a brilliant effort from Gabby Agbonlahor, who then turned provider for the second; setting up an unmissable effort for Darren Bent in front of the Holte End.
If you were to glance at the statistics, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Roberto Martinez might be leaving Birmingham thinking that his side deserved something
It’s just under five months since Wigan were last at Villa Park and they’ve proven to be something of a bogey team for us in our limited history of playing them. This will only be the 7th time this league fixture has been played, but we’re yet to win one. The pattern so far is LDLDLD; clearly we need to break that pattern one way or another today.
Here’s how Alex McLeish intends to grab the vital win:
Aston Villa
Wigan
1
Shay Given
26
Ali Al-Habsi
2
Alan
As you’re probably all too aware, the 1-1 draw at QPR on Sunday was our 5th draw of the season. And we’ve only played six games. And we remain unbeaten. You knew that, right?
Of course you did.
You might not be aware that this means we’ve drawn 83.33% of the (admittedly limited number of) games so far, or that we’ll finish up drawing 31 or 32 games by the end of the season if this pattern continues. It won’t continue of
An injury time own goal by Richard Dunne cancelled out a second half penalty by Barry Bannan to end yet another game in stalemate, but a win would have been thoroughly undeserved.
The first half is not worth talking about. It was as bad as anything I’ve seen from Villa in recent years and, let’s face it, we’ve seen some poor stuff lately. QPR bossed two thirds of the possession and managed to outpass us almost 2:1.
The second half was a
It’s our first away trip to QPR since 1995 and we’re in dire need of a better result than the 1-0 loss we suffered that day after the downbeat nature of our Carling Cup exit.
With Darren Bent and Emile Heskey injured, here’s how the managers will go looking for three points today:
QPR
Aston Villa
1
Patrick Kenny
1
Shay Given
18
Luke Young
2
Alan Hutton
35
Anton Ferdinand
6
James Collins
5
Fitz Hall
5
Richard Dunne
13
Armand Traore
3
Stephen Warnock
11
Alejandro Faurlin
25
Barry Bannan
17
Joey Barton
19
Stiliyan Petrov
4
Shaun Derry
16
Fabian Delph
32
Shaun Wright-Phillips
7
Stephen Ireland
10
Jay Bothroyd
10
Charles N’Zogbia
7
Adel Taarabt
11
Gabriel Agbonlahor
Subs
Subs
26
Brian Murphy
22
Brad Guzan
2
Bradley Orr
23
Habib Beye
14
Ákos Buzsáky
34
Shane