Villa home Sunday 14th December Sky sports

ASLEFshruggedASLEFshrugged
in Match Threads
Oh well

Villa have won 13 out of the last 15 with losses at Anfield and away to Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League. On the road they've had wins at Feyenoord, Spurs, Leeds and Brighton, they're away at FC Basel on Thursday so could extend that winning run.

As with Brighton its pretty much the same team as last season minus Jacob Ramsey (Newcastle £43m) and a handful of fringe players

Starting XI against Arsenal

Martinez
Cash Konsa Torres Maatsen
Kamara Onana
McGinn Tielemans Rogers
Watkins

They replaced Ramsey with Ivorian RW Evann Guessand (Nice £26m) who has clocked up 6 starts in the Prem but has only scored against Go Ahead Eagles. He missed the Arsenal win with a knock but could be back by Sunday

Otherwise the new arrivals Victor Lindelöf (free), Jadon Sancho and Harvey Elliot (both on loan) have mostly been restricted to the Europa League or as substitutes. Elliot hasn't been part of the Premier League matchday squad since 19th October

The only injury of note is Tyrone Mings (again), not expected back until after Christmas.

Ross Barkley is out with a knee but has only made 8 substitute appearances this season

Top scorer is Donyell Malen with 7, 4 in the EPL and 3 in the Europa, despite only starting 8 games out his 21 appearances

Emiliano Buendía has also scored 4 in the EPL plus another in the Europa and similar to Malen he's only made 9 starts out of 19 apperances.

Ollie Watkins was top scorer last season with 16 but had only scored one in 13 starts before he scored twice in the midweek win at Brighton

Morgan Rogers has scored 3 and leads assists with 5. Boubacar Kamara has 4 assists while Lucas Digne has 3.

The only other player to have featured this season is Dutch U21 CM Lamare Bogarde but like the others he's mostly used in the Europa League or from the bench

We've not beaten them in six games, the last time we won was August 2022

A draw would be terrific!
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Comments

  • alderzalderz
    I think we can guarantee that they’ll score in stoppage time
  • claretandblueskyclaretandbluesky
    What Nuno has restored for me is the feeling we could get something, so although we are a long way from expecting to, at least we feel we could. Under Potter I never thought we'd get anything from matches against two thirds of teams, where as Nuno has me back to where we probably were with Moyes, and it's only Arsenal, City and probably Chelsea at present where I would think we are not going to get anything.

    So I think we will probably lose this 1-3 but we COULD get something and possibly even the three points we should have got against Brighton. A good performance and a little luck on our side may be enough.
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    Its not the despair.....
  • chicagohammerchicagohammer
    MrsGrey said:

    Its not the despair.....

    I must admit that I am on the train going home and that literally made me laugh out loud….and I am in the quiet car 🤫
  • jay_in_cptjay_in_cpt
    West Ham United v Aston Villa FC

    Referee: Taylor, Anthony
    Assistant Referee: Nunn, Adam
    Assistant Referee: Hussin, Ian
    Fourth Official: Toner, Ben
    Video Assistant Referee: Hopton, Nick
    Additional Video Assistant Referee: Bell, James
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    Very little, as usual, in Nuno's presser. Scarles is back in training, just as well as we lose Diouf and AWB to the AFCON after this match.
  • claretandblueskyclaretandbluesky
    I am not sure Scarles is ready for the first team just yet, I do have faith in Walker-Peters however. I would have quite liked Coufal to still be with us.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    So would he apparently.
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    claretandbluesky said:

    I am not sure Scarles is ready for the first team just yet, I do have faith in Walker-Peters however. I would have quite liked Coufal to still be with us.

    Unfortunately Walker-Peters can't cover both AWB and Diouf at the same time, so I'm not sure what the alternative is unless we play a back 3 and get a midfielder to play as a wing back. I suppose we could always bring JWP back into the fold and play him at RB as has been suggested in the past to try and shoe-horn his deadball ability into the side.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    What deadball ability. We’ve eeen no sight of it since he’s been with us.
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    thornburyiron said:

    What deadball ability. We’ve eeen no sight of it since he’s been with us.

    I think his corners are better than our current options tbh.
  • alderzalderz
    I assumed that was why Mayers made his debut to cover left back without Diouf or Scarles
  • chicagohammerchicagohammer
    Watching Rice and Kudos taking corners nowadays made me wonder where they learned how to do that coz it certainly wasn’t with us
  • ASLEFshruggedASLEFshrugged
    edited December 13
    Emery made 8 changes for the Europa League.

    New backup keeper 34yo Marco Bizot (Stade Brestois £3m) replaced Martinez, out with a recurring back problem. He;ll have a kate fitness test along with Pau Torres who went off 87th minute against Arsenal with a hamstring.

    Lindelof, Guessand, Buendía, Sancho, Malen, Digne and Bogarde all given rare starts.

    Cash, Konsa and Onana kept their places, Cash was replaced by Tielemans at half time with Bogarde dropping to RB, Kamara replaced Onana after an hour
  • LukerzLukerz
    Need 3 points
  • Brother_SledgeBrother_Sledge
    I think Scarles had some reasonable performances last season. I would like to see him given a run at left back.
  • LukerzLukerz
    Areola
    Wan-Bissaka - Mavropanos - Todibo - Diouf
    Fernandes - Potts - Paquetá
    Bowen - Wilson - Summerville

    Is what I expect we’ll see & we somehow need 3 points.
  • Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_MoyesJorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes
    They’ve won 8 games in a row so we are very likely to lose
  • LukerzLukerz
    edited December 14
    I don’t expect us to lose & would be very disappointed if we did. I think it’ll be another draw but we really need 3 points. I think it’s actually easier to play a side in great form than it is to play one in poor form.

    We dropped 2 points at Bournemouth & Brighton after leading in both - we could be 5 adrift after today if we don’t take any points & I always think a gap of 6 or more becomes almost impossible when you get to the half way point of season.
  • Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_MoyesJorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes
    How badly we need points doesn't change the fact we're 18th and their 3rd, and we've won 2 of the last 8 while they've won 8 of the last 8.

    I hope we pull something off but I'm definitely not expecting it
  • LukerzLukerz
    edited December 14
    Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes said:

    How badly we need points doesn't change the fact we're 18th and their 3rd, and we've won 2 of the last 8 while they've won 8 of the last 8.

    I hope we pull something off but I'm definitely not expecting it

    I agree but on that logic the only sides we should be taking 3 points off between now & May are Wolves, Leeds, Forest & Burnley. That sees us go down with a total of 7 wins. All other sides are considerably clear of us.

    We’re at home, Villa have had less prep time after their midweek game. They are due a loss. We’ve lost 1 of 6. I know we are not very good but my point is we WANT to stay up, which means we need to start winning some games, especially with City away next. I’m hopeful we may see a similar game to when we beat Newcastle 3-1.

    And of course, if we lose, it’s understandable. Villa are better than us. But so are 17 other sides. At what point do we then accept survival is unlikely?
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    Until it isn't.
  • LukerzLukerz
    If we can’t beat Brighton, Bournemouth, Villa (today) - who are you expecting us to beat to get the wins required?
  • Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_MoyesJorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes
    I didn’t say any game against a side above us is unwinnable. I’m saying a game against a team with 8 wins in a row who are only a few points behind Arsenal (and beat them last week) is extremely tough, and I expect us not to get anything.
  • Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_MoyesJorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes
    I don’t know if survival is unlikely or not but we are in a bad position and we could very well be going down.

    Nuno has made up some ground after the horrific start, but not sure even his current ppg would be enough.
  • LukerzLukerz
    edited December 14
    Yeah I agree, I think I was resigned to us going down a while ago, then I thought Nuno may have a dramatic impact, but he’s only really had a very small one. I just don’t see where the wins are coming from, especially if we all feel games against any side several points above us are not likely to result in anything. I’d say that’s everybody from Fulham & above.
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Todibo, Diouf, Potts, Magassa, Fernandes, Paquetá, Summerville, Bowen © Subs: Hermansen (GK), Walker-Peters, Kilman, Igor, Scarles, Rodríguez, Kanté, Souček, Wilson
  • BarneyBarney
    would like to have seen Wilson intead of Paqueta but what do I know
  • PengemanPengeman
    buffybegood said:

    Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Todibo, Diouf, Potts, Magassa, Fernandes, Paquetá, Summerville, Bowen © Subs: Hermansen (GK), Walker-Peters, Kilman, Igor, Scarles, Rodríguez, Kanté, Souček, Wilson

    Fullkrug missing again - injured again or having tantrums?
  • stevesteve
    No Earhy around either .What's that all about
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