Villa – Man Utd; I’m laughing, not knowing what to say.

I’ve been saying for years that Utd are a club in decline and we’re seeing it accelerate, in my opinion. The “theatre of dreams” is falling to pieces because of the Glaziers’ lack of investment and I’m sure I heard the other day that Ten Hag has spent £600 million on players since he arrived. What’s worrying for the club is that they’re no better and often look like they’re not even trying. Everybody I know says his sacking is imminent, with many saying they don’t understand why he hasn’t gone already. The trouble is, how many top managers would want to manage the club, even though money talks?

So my caution regarding Ipswich proved to be correct and to rub salt into things, I see West Ham tonked them 4-1 yesterday. Flaming typical!

And while I’m tempted to say I expect us to put three past Utd, I’m again reticent to actually say it. “The Villa way” could easily come into play again and we all know our record against them is simply atrocious. Still, I’m very minded to think we’ve turned a corner and those days of constantly losing to them are over.

It’s early in the season, but already the injuries are racking up. Squad news is that Ramsey, Onana and Bailey are all going to be late fitness calls. Judging by Unai Emery’s comments, it seems Bailey’s problem is only slight, but Ramsey and Onana are bigger doubts and apparently if they do make the squad, they won’t be fully fit. That’s really not good and for once I’m actually glad we’ve got a rubbishy International break coming up. Talking of which, we have players complaining that they’re playing too many games but if that’s the case, why are there so many International friendlies? Money, money, money, I guess.

John McGinn is still out.

Utd have Bruno Fernandez available after his red card was rescinded. Typical of Villa’s luck, but hey ho. Kobbie Mainoo is going to be a late call, but is doubtful. They have a couple of long termers, but frankly, I don’t care.

The big question for me is how long can we go without starting Jhon Duran? Whatever you think of him, he’s on fire and is scoring for fun. From what I’ve been reading, the lad is still difficult for Emery to manage, but his attitude has improved massively and he’s working hard in training. Is that because of a promise that we’ll let him go soon? I hope not.

I read that we could play Morgan Rogers on the left and squeeze Duran in somehow, especially if Bailey and Ramsey don’t make it. It would be a good reward for the striker, but Utd can score goals and I suspect Emery will decide against and possibly swap him out earlier, to give Ollie a rest.

After a massive effort against Bayern, a big concern has to be how much that game has taken out of the players. Unai Emery has recently said that he had doubts about the players lacking motivation for the Ipswich game and concentrating more on the Champion’s league. Man Utd is always a massive game, so that surely won’t apply today, you would hope.

Prediction time then and as I said, I expect us to put three past them. 3-1, I would think.

But then I’ve just seen a very depressing statistic. In 58 Premier league games, we’ve beaten Utd 5 times, drawn 13 and suffered a stonking 40 losses.

Hence, I’m going for a draw, 2-2, with me cursing “the Villa way”.

Fingers crossed and UTV!