Aston Villa (A)4:30pm Sunday 22 Oct (Sky Sports)

Did anyone know that in our last ten games against Villa we've won six and drawn four? Me neither.

We haven't lost to Villa since May 2015, away at Villa Park when they had Christian Benteke in the squad and we had Morgan Amalfitano. Since then they've spent three seasons in the Championship, had nine different managers and two changes of owners.

When we kick off on Sunday it will be two days short of a year since Unai Emery was appointed manager although it took another week to sort out his work permit. The transformation since he took over is undeniable, taking them from a team that struggled in the bottom half of the Prem to qualifying for European football for the first time n over a decade.

Emery doesn't change the squad much, eight players have started all eight Premier League games with two more starting seven.

Martinez
Cash Torres Konsa Digne
??????? Luiz Kamara McGinn
Diaby Watkins

Possible variations are Leon Bailey on the right (2 games), Italian international Nicolo Zaniolo (on loan from Galatasaray) on the left with McGinn switching to the right (3) or Diego Carlos as a third CB with Cash and Digne playing as wing backs (3),

The big signing of the summer was FW Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen for a club record of £52m. He mostly played as a winger before he joined Villa but Emery seems to be using him as a striker alongside Ollie Watkins. (Watkins has played us six times over the last three seasons and scored a goal every season)

The big absence is Tyrone Mings who got stretchered off on the opening day and has had surgery to fix a cruciate ligament. He's been replaced by Pau Torries, £33m from Villarreal,

Previous club record signing Emiliano Buendia (£38m from Norwich 2021) didn't even get to start the season, suffering a similar knee ligament injury three days before the first match.

Another noticeable absence is Philippe Coutinho whose transfer from Barcelona was greeted as one of the best signings of last summer but clearly he doesn't fit into Emery's plans and he's been allowed to go on loan to Al-Duhail in Qatar

One new arrival rumoured not to be a happy bunny is Youri Tielelmans who signed on a free from Leicester. He hasn't been given a single start in the Premier League and allegedly wants to leave in January after a bust up with Emery

On the bench 19yo Columbian CF Jhon Durán is worth keeping an eye on, he usually gets brought on towards the end of the match and has scored twice in six Premier League appearances.

It's fairly predictable that Moyes will allow Villa to have most of the possession then hit them on the counter as its delivered some impressive r4esult so far this season

In other news Villa players have complained about with their new shirts which become drenched with sweat after a few minutes.





Ewwwwwwww
«1345

Comments

  • Bit short on info there ASLEF ,Guess it will have to do =)
  • I reckon some of those players were trying to squeeze into a kids medium hahaha
  • I thought they were supposed to be wet look and the manufacturers are trying to sort out something Villa like playing in.

    Villa very dangeroud attacking. When they've got stuffed (e.g. by Newcastle) I believe it was their high line that was exposed. I dont know if we have the system or personnel to do that though. I did recall that we've had plenty of good results vs Villa in recent seasons but I think we'll be doing very well to outscore them this time...
  • From the club website

    Referee: David Coote
    Assistant Referees: Constantine Hatzidakis and Mark Scholes
    Fourth Official: Thomas Bramall
    VAR: Chris Kavanagh
    Assistant VAR: Matthew Wilkes

    Coote reffed our 1-0 win at Villa Park last season
  • This game will be a real test of where we are in my view after a few difficult matches. I think City, Arsenal and Liverpool are above everyone else this season and will occupy the first three places. I hope we will be in the fight for places from 4-10 and hopefully securing some form of European football next year (as it's a lot of fun). I suspect Villa will be in that push for those places so this is hopefully a six pointer at this stage. As it's away I would be happy with a point but hopeful of more.
  • Areola
    Coufal - Zouma - Aguerd - Emerson
    Soucek - Alvarez - Ward-Prowse
    Bowen - Paqueta
    Antonio

    Fabianski, Mavropanos, Ogbonna, Kehrer, Fornals, Kudus, Benrahma, Cornet, Ings

    Again, I don’t see anything other than that line-up.
  • Fitness permitting, I agree it's unlikely we'll see anything different 👍.
  • Kudus for Antonio would be positive change, I think. Won’t happen though.
  • Kudus for Antonio would be positive change, I think. Won’t happen though.

    It's an obvious change in my view as Kudus is too good not to start. Antonio also a potent introduction if needed.
  • Kudus for Antonio would be positive change, I think. Won’t happen though.

    It's an obvious change in my view as Kudus is too good not to start. Antonio also a potent introduction if needed.
    Time will tell, he wasn't thrilled at being put on the bench when Scamacca was here, time will tell how motivated he is if he's relegated to sub again.

  • Kudus for Antonio is not a "like-for-like" swap.
  • edited October 2023
    Soucek won’t get dropped with his form, nor will JWP. We know Paqueta will always play as he’s our best technical player, as will Bowen. Antonio for Kudus is not a swap as very different players. The only way I can see Kudus coming in is if Alvarez is left out for him to play in the centre. That’s not likely to happen away at Villa but may happen at home to Everton.
  • Kudus could play instead of Antonio without causing much upheaval.
  • IronHerb said:

    Kudus could play instead of Antonio without causing much upheaval.

    Personally, I don't feel like I've seen enough of Kudus to know whether that's the case. When he's played, he's not really gone CF, with Bowen and Paqueta seemingly playing there ahead of him. So it would likely be a case of him going RW and Bowen going upfront. I'm not sure how much difference that makes to us and the way we play, but finding out away at Villa Park feels risky.

    Longer term, I can definitely see Kudus pushing Antonio out of the side, I just don't see it happening this weekend.
  • edited October 2023
    Longer term…

    Alvarez - JWP
    Bowen - Kudus - Paqueta
    Antonio/ST

    But at the moment Soucek has to play with his current form.
  • I think a front 3 of Bowen - Kudus - Paqueta where they all interchange could be exciting, but it won’t happen Sunday.
  • IronHerb said:

    Kudus could play instead of Antonio without causing much upheaval.

    Sorry but from what little I've seen of Kudus he's a very different player from Antonio and they play very different roles.

    Antonio plays right up against the centre backs/full backs, using his strength to hold them off when the ball is played to him or his pace if the ball is played behind the defence. Kudus plays deeper and will run the ball at the defence.

    Kudus is more like Bowen than Antonio
  • I’d like to see Mavropanos and Kudus come in. It’ll be a challenge for many of the players to shift back into premier league mentality, having been away with their countries over the international break. I’m all for playing Antonio and Aguerd in previous PL games (imo the right call by Moyes), but against Villa I think we are ready to give Mavropanos and Kudus their first PL starts for us.

    Areola
    Coufal Mavropanos Zouma Emerson
    Alvarez
    Bowen JWP Soucek Paqueta
    Kudus

    Fab Kehrer Aguerd Ogbonna Fornals Benrahma Cornet Antonio Marshall
  • I would love to see Bowen and Kudus switching roles through the match and keeping the defence on their toes, I think both can play right wing and would be effective at centre forward, I would just love to see constant switching.

    Not sure regard Mavropanos or Aguerd? I feel Aguerd is the better player but more likely to make a major error.

    I would keep Soucek in as I think he is finding himself able to play to his strengths again now Dec has gone.
  • Refwatch: Coote in charge of 9 matches, 4 were a problem. He favours the home team, and last year fell for the Villa dark arts big-time. Expect lots of bookings and any penalty appeal turned down for us, the opposite for them.
  • But we'll still get a point....
  • There must be a ref somewhere that likes us. =)
  • There must be a ref somewhere that likes us. =)

    There's definitely an umpire
  • There must be a ref somewhere that likes us. =)

    We're beginning to sound like Millwall hahaha
  • We've done okay with Coote in charge, we've not lost the last six (W2 D4) and he's awarded us penalties in the last three

    The last away match was against Leeds, 2-2, booked two Leeds players and gave us a penalty in the first half, booked another and the manager in the second half then booked Aguerd in time added on
  • At the press conference Emery talked about being able to play three at the back again after Diego Carlos returned from injury

    Best guess...

    Martinez
    Konsa Carlos Torres
    Cash Kamara Luiz McGinn Digne
    Diaby Watkins
  • Areola
    Coufal - Zouma - Aguerd - Emerson
    Bowen - Alvarez - JWP - Paqueta
    Soucek
    Antonio

    Kudus just doesn’t get in that side at the moment.
  • Perhaps Kudus will get a full start against an 'easier' team. We already know what he's capable of.
  • After today's results, a win could take us to 5th place........Nurse!!
  • Emerson, Alvarez and Paqueta all on 4 yellows
Sign In or Register to comment.