Hooray, the new season starts today. I’ll be watching the Liverpool-Bournemouth game tonight, but more with a passing interest, while I wait for what could be a great game against Newcastle tomorrow.
Then again, it might prove to be a total damp squib, as many first games tend to look similar to pre-season friendlies, where both teams can be poor.
The thought of a Villa-Newcastle fixture though, is always one I look forward to, as it does tend to produce something, even if it was our first game 5-1 tonking against them two seasons back.
So what do we know about our squad?
First off is that Morgan Rogers will be available, as he’s been training since the early part of the week. That’s great news for me as he’s exactly the sort of player I like, the sort who runs at defenders and terrifies them.
On the downside, Ross Barkley and Andres Garcia are out. I’m not sure how much of a loss that is, to be honest, as it seems Emery isn’t keen on Garcia and Barkley, as much as he’s done okay, isn’t really a mainstay anyway.
Should we be concerned that Emi Martinez is suspended for this game after he blocked a goalscoring chance in that infamous Man U final game of last season? Given there was much talk of him leaving in this window, maybe not so much, as Bizot seems to be at least a reasonable backup goalie.
And then of course, it seems a deal for Jacob Ramsey to Newcastle has been done and dusted, but for some reason it hasn’t been announced yet. I don’t understand why. Do they think the fans will be upset by such last minute news? Maybe, but he was always one to go and it’s been spoken about for a while now, so it’s not like it’s a surprise. We need the money, simple.
Anyway, there’s no chance he will be playing for either side.
As for Newcastle, well the good news there is that Alexander Isak most likely won’t be playing after basically saying he won’t play for Newcastle again. I’ve seen stories that the chances of him staying at the club are increasing, but I wouldn’t bank on it. The club won’t want a seriously unhappy player and they will agree a deal with Liverpool for him. Is he the best striker in the world at the moment? Possibly.
The only player not available for them is Joe Willock.
New signing Malick Thiaw is available and might get a runout, but he’s only been there for two days.
And then, what to think?
Well, we have a really good record at home against them recently. Much better than I had in my head and apparently we’ve beaten them in five out of the last six times we’ve played them at Villa Park.
Which has actually changed my thinking a bit.
I was going to take the easy option and predict a 2-2 draw.
But now I’m inclined to think that we can win this. The bookies have us as slight favourites too, which surprises me.
Mind you, with the serious threat of Isak being out, our chances are definitely improved.
It’s got to be 2-1 to the Villa.
UTV!
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