Darren Bent nodded in a mirror image of his Upton Park goal shortly before half time to cancel out Kenwyne Jones’ 20th minute header, unsurprisingly from a Rory Delap long throw, in a game that’s unlikely to be released on DVD any time soon.
Bent’s goal just about provided the only glimmer of class from a Villa side that were pedestrian for most of the match. Credit must be given to the visitors for pressing and harrying well before they scored,
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When Gary McAllister was asked whether he would be picking the team or Gerard Houllier, he said that if they lost it would be Gerard’s team and if they won it was his. He was joking of course, but as it’s an unchanged side, it doesn’t really matter:
Aston Villa
Stoke
1
Brad Friedel
1
Asmir Begovic
36
Kyle Walker
28
Andy Wilkinson
29
James Collins
17
Ryan Shawcross
5
Richard Dunne
4
Robert Huth
2
Luke Young
12
Marc Wilson
6
Stewart Downing
24
Rory Delap
19
Stiliyan Petrov
6
Glenn Whelan
20
Nigel Reo-Coker
16
Jermaine Pennant
7
Ashley Young
26
Matthew Etherington
18
Emile Heskey
9
Kenwyne Jones
39
Darren Bent
19
Jonathan Walters
Subs
Subs
33
Andy Marshall
29
Thomas Sorensen
24
Carlos Cuellar
5
Danny Collins
21
Ciaran Clark
14
Danny Pugh
8
Robert Pires
15
Salif Diao
17
Jean II
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It’s good news from the coronary ward of the Queen Elizabeth hospital: Gerard Houllier will not require any surgery, just rest and medication. It’s unlikely that we’ll see him in the dugout again this season though, so Gary McAllister will fill in as expected.
So, whether you wanted it or not, we will have a fourth person calling the shots from the sidelines this season. Fortunately, we’re more or less out of the woods and McAllister will just be supervising Houllier’s
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An old friend of mine, a Baggies fan, emailed me to say that as much as he hated to admit it, Stoke’s disallowed goal should have stood and asked what I thought. I didn’t disagree, but goals change games so we shouldn’t assume that the rest of the game would have played out exactly the same to end in a 1-1 draw. I’m confident that we would have found the necessary goals to win the game and the
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Perhaps more workman like than spectacular, but job done and it’s a good day at the office for Aston Villa. Substitute John Carew’s 61st minute goal was the ultimate difference between the teams at Villa Park, but Villa’s quality shone through and they thoroughly deserved to edge back into third place in the Premiership.
MON put out an unchanged side for the fourth game running and who can blame him since they do say that you shouldn’t change a winning
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Despite only having 35% possession, Stoke somehow head home with a point. I think I preferred it when we played badly, but still got results. 11 games left, hopefully we’ll play some truly awful football and take the points we need!!