God knows what that picture’s about, but it works for me!
I don’t know why really, but I’ve been looking forward to this fixture, nearly as much as the away version.
I mean, with the utmost respect, Burton are a nothing club, aren’t they?
They’ve had a very decent rise from non-league footy, but their ground only holds around 10,000, which will make the clamour for tickets at the Pirelli interesting when we play them away.
Which brings me to the attendance for this game and it’s officially a sell-out.
Given that it’ll be the biggest crowd since our 1-0 victory over Liverpool in 2010-11, it’s a very impressive attendance.
42,500 for a game against a minnow club brings back memories of monster boxing day crowds of years gone by and you know the atmosphere is going to be fantastic. Just as a footy match should be.
Certainly it seems that many other Villa fans agree with me that this is a tasty game.
Injury-wise, Steve Bruce updated us yesterday and it seems we’re all good, with only the long-termers like Richards and Steer etc being out.
On Burton’s side, they’re in even better shape, with Nigel Clough hoping to have his entire squad fit, which is a rarity at this stage of the season.
Not that any of that matters, as I fully expect the Villa to win this one.
I know, I know, I really ought to know better than to be so confident, but I can’t help but feel we should beat Burton comfortably.
The biggest problem I see is that we know Burton are probably going to park the bus. Combine that with the fact that we don’t create much and struggle to score and it could prove tough going, although I think we’ll have enough to overcome them.
But if you look at Burton’s away record, along with Rotherham, it’s the worst in the league and they haven’t won one.
A look at the league table shows we have the second worst away record with only two wins, but that’s another issue.
Our home record is much better though and we’ve won the last four league games, with the draw against Wolves being the only blip under Steve Bruce. It seems VP is becoming a fortress again.
Hence I can’t see Burton getting anything out of this game.
How we’re going to play it is another question though.
I’ve seen that Bruce has said he might change it up again and it makes sense, seeing as we have three games in a week.
So I don’t have a clue how we might line up.
As I’ve said, I can’t see past a Villa win, although I suspect if we can’t get the early goal, it might be a bit of a grind. Once we get one though, I’d expect the game to get easier.
Villa 2-0
Here’s wishing all readers and Villa fans everywhere a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!
