Aston Villa have played their 4th pre-season game against Wycombe and this time we didn’t tie 1-1, but instead 2-2. In the first half Aston Villa played with a relatively strong defence, with Lowton, Vlaar, Clark and Luna all playing. Yet, it was in the first half in which Aston Villa conceded both goals. First goal came from McCoy who scored with a ‘cross-shot’ that surprised Guzan and went in. Aston Villa did respond with a goal from Lowton in the first half, Bacuna found Lowton and with a teasing ball; Lowton steered his header into the bottom left corner. Later Wycombe scores again, this time Johnson scored from a corner taken by Spring. In the second half, the same team played and Westwood score his first goal for the club. Grealish was fouled and Westwood scored with a well-placed free-kick.
VILLA: Guzan, Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Bacuna, El Ahmadi, Luna, Westwood, Weimann (Burke), Grealish, Carruthers.
50th Minute Subs: Steer, Donacien, Baker, Johnson, Delph, Webb, Sylla, Bowery, Burke, Herd, Gardner.
Paul Lambert also lost two forwards to injury. Weimann came-off with a rumored rib-injury in the first half. Later in the second half, substitute Bowery limped off with a back injury, Bowery’s injury doesn’t seem to serious and Lambert didn’t want to risk him. Helenius also didn’t feature in the match, nothing has been confirmed, however Helenius must have had a small knock that kept him out of the game. Weimann, and Bowery will join Agbonlahor, Tonev and Okore in the injury room. However, the majority of the players should be fit and available for our next friendly against Luton.
Aston Villa are yet to win a pre-season game, am I worried? A tiny bit, I think our strike force will be fine, like it was last season. But we are still having issues at the back. Lets hope things improve with Okore, but the vibe that I’m getting from fans is to get Baker to partner Vlaar and place Clark in midfield. It’s worth a shot.
Image courtosey of BBC