With the exception of West Brom grabbing three points in Sunderland, all of yesterday’s fixtures went exactly as we needed them to. With Arsenal hopefully about to do the business in Blackpool (although they’re not making it easy), Newcastle’s visit to Villa Park provides the perfect opportunity to move away from the danger zone and relieve a little pressure.
Here’s how Gerard Houllier plans on getting the job done (not listed: The 12th Man):
Aston Villa
Newcastle
1
Brad Friedel
1
Steve Harper
36
Kyle Walker
12
Danny Simpson
29
James Collins
2
Fabricio
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It’s not enough to be good, you have to have a share of luck now and again too. Luck is something that deserted us some time ago; its evil cousin, bad luck, getting its feet under the table in short order. Today, good fortune appeared to briefly return when Jermaine Beckford’s thunderous shot ricocheted off the underside of the crossbar and was adjudged not to have crossed the line.
While Everton protested, Brad Friedel spotted the opportunity to move the ball
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With West Ham still leading West Ham, lifting the Hammers up the table as things stand, here’s how we’re going to have a crack at the injury ravaged Everton today:
Everton
Aston Villa
24
Tim Howard
1
Brad Friedel
2
Tony Hibbert
36
Kyle Walker
6
Phil Jagielka
5
Richard Dunne
15
Sylvain Distin
29
James Collins
3
Leighton Baines
2
Luke Young
18
Phil Neville
20
Nigel Reo-Coker
5
John Heitinga
17
Jean II Makoun
7
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov
6
Stewart Downing
23
Seamus Coleman
7
Ashley Young
21
Leon Osman
11
Gabriel Agbonlahor
16
Jermaine Beckford
39
Darren Bent
Subs
Subs
1
Jan Mucha
33
Andy Marshall
Aristote Nsiala
24
Carlos Cuellar
19
Magaye Gueye
16
Fabian Delph
30
Shkodran Mustafi
8
Robert Pires
Adam Forshaw
19
Stiliyan Petrov
Conor McAleny
12
Marc Albrighton
Apostolos Vellios
18
Emile Heskey
YouTube Video
If you would like, you can download a ‘Be The 12th Man’ wallpaper for your desktop, iPhone or iPad.
Another FATV interview with Ashley Young, this time post-match with what looks like Kyle Walker stuffing his face in the background. As you’ll no doubt be aware, the Villa lads were once again instrumental in England’s 2-0 win over Wales in their Euro 2012 qualifier with Ash winning the penalty for the first goal thanks to a clumsy challenge from our own James Collins.
Ash was the provider for the second, squaring Glen Johnson’s superb long ball for Darren Bent to
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Ashley Young talking to FATV ahead of England’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales on Saturday.
YouTube Video
James Collins gets a mention in the video, he was in the frame to captain the Welsh side on Saturday, but contrary to silly rumours circulating earlier this week, he’s only playing after passing a fitness test and was not fit for last Saturday’s game against Wolves.
Screamer
You’ve probably already seen Kyle Walker’s “screamer” in a small pitch training game with the Under-21s I Tweeted yesterday.
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There’s a lot of emotion, anger and fear floating around the Villasphere at the moment so I’m going to tread carefully here. I’m not looking to make any particular point, but I do want to correct one or two claims I’m seeing which are factually inaccurate.
Facts are what I do, I’ll leave the opinion to you the reader.
The question in the headline might draw a multitude of answers, and possibly some less than savoury language, but I’m talking in terms
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I won’t be alone in feeling completely numb right now. I can’t even think where to begin explaining that one. There’s zero point talking tactics and team selection, the starting XI wasn’t vastly different from expectations, they just didn’t play with any real intent about them.
I hoped someone might pass a note around the changing room at half time, perhaps a snapshot of the table, wake them up a little, something to bring our situation into focus. They’d come out
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The teams are almost exactly as expected from yesterday’s preview, just Marc Albrighton instead of Gabby – nothing shocking about that – but Chris Herd starts, presumably at left back, rather than Fabian Delph.
Aston Villa
Wolves
1
Brad Friedel
13
Wayne Hennessey
36
Kyle Walker
32
Kevin Foley
24
Carlos Cuellar
5
Richard Stearman
32
Nathan Baker
16
Christophe Berra
31
Chris Herd
3
George Elokobi
6
Stewart Downing
19
Adam Hammill
20
Nigel Reo-Coker
8
Karl Henry
17
Jean II Makoun
20
Nenad Milijas
12
Marc Albrighton
17
Matthew Jarvis
7
Ashley Young
24
Jamie O’Hara
39
Darren Bent
29
Kevin Doyle
Subs
Subs
33
Andy Marshall
1
Marcus Hahnemann
8
Robert Pires
6
Jody Craddock
11
Gabriel Agbonlahor
7
Michael Kightly
13
Michael Bradley
9
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake
16
Fabian Delph
10
Steven Fletcher
18
Emile Heskey
11
Stephen Ward
19
Stiliyan Petrov
14
David Jones