It’s funny how a couple of good wins against Derby and Blues can totally change your outlook isn’t it?
Yes, I know it’s fickle of me, but the fact is we looked awful for a good while and I didn’t think for one minute that reintroducing Jack Grealish would make such a difference.
But he has and that’s where we are; I once again believe that we can beat anyone in this league.
Team news then and Tuanzebe and Lansbury are back in training, but tonight will be too early for them.
Otherwise, nothing has changed.
Nottingham Forest could be without Lewis Grabban and Matty Cash and Martin O’Neil has hinted that he might change things up, which suggests he might be forced to.
O’Neil certainly seems pretty confident about the game and has also hinted that he might go for it.
Which could possibly play into our hands, although we know Forest can score goals too, as we saw at Villa Park.
Both clubs have decent squads and some very decent players at this level.
Hence I see it being a good game, with hopefully plenty of attacking on our part.
Our only problem is what to do with John McGinn and in my opinion, Dean Smith should stick with the side that started against Birmingham and bring McGinn on for added energy as and when required.
I know McGinn helped to transform our game on Sunday, but I’m a big believer in sticking with a successful side.
There’s a strong argument that McGinn should start, which would give, say, Whelan a bit of a rest. I’m not sure the Irishman would be too happy about it though.
Bringing Green in for Adomah might be a good idea too, although I suspect Smith sees the youngster as more of an impact player for now, so don’t really see it happening.
Whichever way Smith decides to go will be fine with me and it’s a very pleasant problem for him to have.
I think if we had a full strength defence, I’d be 100% confident that we can win this.
But even though we haven’t, our defence is a lot better than it was when we played Forest at home and I don’t expect us to get caught out so easily.
That said, I’m still quite confident and while I don’t expect another 5-5 goal glut, I do see goals.
I’m going for a 2-1 win to us and would normally be happy with a draw.
But we need the points if we’re to maintain our push for the play-offs and I think we have to be confident.
Yes!!!!! 3-1 and another win!!!!
Well done Villa. With Derby drawing and Boro losing a good night for us.
If we can beat Boro on Saturday we are right back in the mix for the play off zone.
Great performance, great result! McGinn was quality again!
Barring injuries to our key players, I cant see why we wont be making the playoffs, and if we keep playing like this, I wouldn’t bet against us!
On a side note, we should try and sign Lolley in the summer. He is quality.
And a Villa fan 🙂
Great result. I said we needed to win 5 on the bounce to reach playoffs and 3 out of 3 against the teams we have played is impressive. Agree with Benno that we would do well in signing Lolley. If we are still in the championship, he would be a decent replacement if Grealish goes. Hanging onto McGinn is vital because he is top drawer. In the meantime I will continue in NOT making predictions while we are winning.
Although Forest huffed and puffed at times I was pleasantly surprised at how well our defence coped tonight.
Before, every time the other team attacked, we always looked like we were likely to fall apart but tonight I felt our defence was quite robust. Mings especially was immense and we must hang onto him at all costs.
We know we have the attack to get promotion but, if the defence can play like tonight, we might just stand a chance.
I can’t help it, I’ve started believing again!