I both love and hate this particular fixture.
It’s the fear of losing and knowing you’ll never hear the end of it from blues fans, as opposed to the massive buzz it gives me when we win and keep them firmly in their usual inferior place.
About three weeks ago, a bluenose workmate of mine asked my thoughts about the game and I told him I wasn’t very confident and would have taken a draw. He was much more confident and thought they could definitely get something from the game.
Forward to now and isn’t it amazing how one result can totally change things?
I now think we can get at least a point and possibly all three, whereas my mate is much more worried after the way we ripped Derby a new one.
League-wise, there’s nothing in it, with us being in eleventh with them sitting one place behind us, courtesy of a single goal in our goal difference.
A win for either side would see them in eighth, four points behind the play-off places.
Both sides have good reasons for confidence.
We’re playing reasonably well and that Derby win in particular must have given the lads a big lift.
But blues are very tough to actually beat, with them only having lost once in 13 games. It hurts to say it, but that’s not too shabby at all. Ok, there’s been seven draws, but they’ve also had some very decent wins, including away to Leeds and Stoke.
Team news then and on our part, Neil Taylor is fit, although I’m not convinced he’ll start after the way the team looked much better when he went off against Derby.
James Chester, is good to start, after his knee niggle that saw him limp off in the Wales game. This is great news.
Birkir Bjarnason is out, after having a smallish groin operation.
The bad news is that John McGinn has been given every chance to recover from his groin injury before Dean Smith made a decision earlier today. I’ve not seen any comments either way, so it’s touch or go whether he makes it.
I don’t see many changes on our part, unless they’re forced, but there’s a chance that Bolasie might start in Kojia’s place, with the latter having missed many chances against Derby.
The only news that I can be bothered about on blues’ part is that Gary Gardner won’t be playing, no doubt through a loan clause.
There’s something really ironic about that when he’s apparently been their best midfielder.
It’s that doubt about John McGinn that makes calling this pretty tricky.
I said a while back that he’d be key to this game, as it seems blues’ midfield is probably their weak point, especially without Gardner in it.
blues have players who can hurt us and our defence isn’t the best, although it’s improved recently.
But the game will be won in midfield and McGinn’s industry and guile would make a big difference. If he doesn’t start he’ll be a massive miss.
If McGinn plays, I’d be fairly confident of a win.
But if he doesn’t, this has a draw written all over it, although I still see us as favourites.
I’ll stick my neck out and go for 2-1
Massively looking forward to this one, albeit nervously.
It’s understandable Badger to be weary Blues have drawn most of their games and not lost. I’m at the game tomorrow but worried to hell best I see is a draw.2-2. up the Villa.
McGinn – calf I think Badger not groin which is marginally better in terms of chances of playing.
Agree with your call on the game – whether McGinn plays is massive imho.
Blues are hard to beat – fair play to Monk who has got them organised. Bolasie might just be the difference as long as we don’t continue to squander chances.
On balance though think I’m going for a draw.
Yes, you’re right Hitch, it is his calf. I don’t know what made me say his groin???
i am so confident we’ll beat that team today its scary. iam never this confident with villa results. the win at derby was so much a statement and so much a confidence booster. win today we will be flying and we will have the important momentum to carry us through some more tough games in upcoming weeks.
3 1 i will go for but i am hoping for a bigger hammering for the blues. if smith can control the players from not straying from the game plan, we really will give them a thumping, blues only chance is to try to make it a typical derby slog in midfield, they will try to win freekicks/corners and load up in our box. they will rough up grealish so i hope the referee does give him some protection. otherwise the kid is gonna pick up a serious injury from these rash challenges he receives each game.
Whelan is playing so I’m switching from 2-1 Villa to 1-1 draw. Don’t know how that guy gets in the match day squad let alone the first team! Might as well play with 10 men.
Villa: Nyland, Hutton, Chester, Tuanzebe, Taylor, Whelan, Hourihane, Grealish, Kodjia, Abraham, Adomah. Subs: Bunn, Elmohamady, Lansbury, El Ghazi, Bolasie, O’Hare, Hogan.
In fairness, Holte, I’d say Whelan is our next best bet if we need a bit of steel in the middle as I agree with Nath, in that they’ll try to bog us down.
Grealish could be massive for us today, but he needs to keep his head.
Pederson is supposed to have said he’s going to “do” Grealish.
Sounds like the sort of thuggery one expects from Small Heath. I have a feeling it’s them that might lose their heads today so the ref does need to be strong,
McGinn not playing shows how difficult it is to replace him but Wheelan is more mobile than Jedi and with Thor injured the only other option would be Lansbury.
I’m going to stick with my draw but nice to see Nath’s super optimism.
Only 7.30am here so will have to make do with coffee LOL.
UTV
Lansbury? He must be awful if he can’t get in front of Whelan. I’m sorry but McGinn is full of running which is the total opposite of Whelan. Hopefully he will make me eat my words.
It would seem Lansbury’s shown nothing.
Don’t forget, even Bruce wouldn’t play him.
Just noticed O’Hare on the bench.
Ooh, I hope we batter blues and he gets a few minutes.
I forget the ref’s name (Rob Jones?) but the consensus is he’s crap.
According to the BBC Gardner is playing for the noses.
I still think we’ll have too much especially when we can bring on players like Bolasie and Hogan in the later stages of the game. I think we’ll win by two so I’m going for 3-1 to the Villa.
Even so I must admit that the nerves are kicking in…
Craig’s playing, Gary isn’t.
Must say the AVTV picture looks much better today.
Kleftenbeld goes stright through Grealish, first touch.
Should have been yellow, imo, as it would have stamped it out straightaway.
Read that on BBC Badger – sadly sounds like a weak ref which will not help us!
Grealish gets hit again.
Still no card! Jack’s going to get battered if the ref doesn’t protect him
Weak referee – obviously prefers thuggery to real football. This will just encourage Small Heath to kick lumps out of superior players.
Blues have some big units up for their set pieces.
That’s a concern.
And blues get a good chance from a corner.
This isn’t working.
We’re not getting the attack involved enough and I don’t think Abraham has touched the ball yet.
Seems a bit too cagey, for my liking. but I’m sure Smith knows what he’s doing.
Without McGinn we don’t seem to be able to get the ball quickly from defence to attack. Even when it gets up there we seem a bit toothless at the moment.
Nyland misses the cross and jucavitz (sp?) scores.
0-1
and I’m not surprised.
Where the f*** was the goalie?
1-0 down and we deserve to be losing. My concerns about a static midfield is coming to light
Yep, as suspected, McGinn’s a massive miss.
Trouble is we’ve noone else like him in the middle.
We’ve had 72% of the ball.
And done absolutely FA with it.
Poor so far. Lacking in urgency (McGinn clearly missed). We need more from Adomah and Kodjia, and Grealish much further up the field.