Thought I would give PNP a day off. Our last competitive game against the Villa was last season's win at the Villa Ground. Kane scoring both in a 2-0 win in March last year as they headed down to the Championship. This followed a 3-1 victory the previous November at the Lane After a hectic run of games for both teams, there will be much interest in the teams selected. Time to give match time to Janssen, N'Koudou and Winks or to put a marker down and play the first 11. Villa come into the game in a mixed patch of form. They sit comfortably mid-table after 5 wins in their last 10 games and are only 7 points off the play-offs. Do they see FA Cup glory as a feasible objective or will they keep their players fresh to try to climb the table in the second half of the season Their last outing was a 1-0 defeat away to Cardiff We welcome back Alan Hutton and Emmanuel Adebayor. The referee is (gulp) Mike Dean.
Paul Stewart Think Villa will put out a strong team to prove that they still belong in Premier. So we need a mix. Vorm CCV; Wimmer; KWP Trippier; Wanyama; Winks;Davies Sissoku; Kane;Janssen
May be a bit over confident but I think we can afford to give a much needed and well deserved rest to a few and still leave with a victory into the next round, Villa's plight is still going on, from a once top 6 contender to now sitting in mid-table in the Championship (cue the jinx and me eating humble pie on Sunday evening!). A few really could do with some game time as well. Vorm Tripps, CCV, Big Kev, Davies Winks, Dembele Son, Sissoko, GKN Janssen Lopez, Toby, KWP, Dier, Roles, Onomah, Harrison That starting XI is still Prem standard with the exception of CCV who's yet to make his top flight debut but impressed in the cup games against Gillingham and Pool. Stuck Roles in the squad as he's been immense for the youths this season from CM, scored bundles and would be good to see him rewarded at some point, especially as I wouldn't want Dembele playing the full 90 but feel he could do with more game time to improve his fitness. Harrison if injury free is also someone I'd like to see given a chance, I think he has the ingredients to be a good squad player down the line so would be ideal to give him a run out. Is Edwards fit now? If so I'd definitely find space for him on the bench with view to a run out. I'm saying 3-1 if we went with that side. Janssen x2 and Son. COYS!
I agree with most of this team but the '3' seems a bit unbalanced to me. Not enough defensive cover and a collective tendency to operate in wider areas. I'd imagine we'll see one of Eriksen or Alli starting (possibly the latter as he has played less this season) to give it a bit more of a central presence. I'd personally prefer to keep them as far away from this fixture as possible and would go with your line up, I just don't see Poch doing the same. Lamela's injury is rumbling on, worryingly. Every time I check PhysioRoom another few days have been added to his expected return.
Hosting the match day thread turned me into a pompous twat. I do apologise. Take 2 - **** off you money grabbing waste of spaces. Booooo!!!
I can confidently predict that we won't be seeing Harrison or KWP feature - given they're playing in a PL2 match right now. It is worth pointing out that Edwards and Duncan aren't featured, though...
It just demonstrates how quickly a club can be thrown into the **** really, doesn't it? Went from bragging about challenging for a Champions League place to getting relegated with 17 points in just a handful of years. 6th, 6th, 6th, 9th, 16th, 15th, 15th, 17th, 20th. It's a warning against complacency, at least. The commentator in our game against Chelsea mentioned the ever-present six in the Premier League. I thought it sounded jarringly wrong for a split second, then remembered why. So used to it being seven teams.
Just watched our 1982 5th round tie with Villa on Youtube. Christ, that was 35 years ago. I was at the game. I'd forgotten how much the pitch used to cut up. It was a freezing cold winter that year. Also noticeable are the cages enclosing the fans - thank you to Ken Bates and the Chelsea scum. Heartbreaking to see the Shelf as it was. I still miss being there on a big match day. Let's hope for safe standing bringing that feeling back. We were some team in those days. Villa won the fabled 'Big One' that year but we saw them off in a really tough game. The next round was away at Stamford Bridge, we won 3-2 after trailing 1-0 at half time. That remains one of my favourite ever games that I attended, much more than either of the final games against Rangers. Here's to winning the thing this year. COYS.
We we're no angels in those days Brian, I can remember getting the train back from Derby and it was stopped at Flitwick and the locals had a lot of clearing up in the morning also a rather exciting trip to wolves stands out in my memory
Very true but I can only recall Chelsea in 75 and Brighton in '78 involving people on the pitch, excluding Hillsbrough, of course.
Good that adebayor isn't gonna be there. He'd have been well up for it and we all know he likes making an impression.
Is Adebayor a Villa player then? Never heard of the move going through and I just checked his Wiki, says he's still a free agent... Pretty sure Anton Walkes featured for the U23's a day or two before his debut against Gillingham, so in that sense, KWP and anyone else for that matter could well be in with a chance of making the squad if Poch wants to give them first team exposure.
Steve Bruce says he'll play his strongest side - although there's a few Villa fans online saying they should give some of the kids a run-out and focus on their league form instead. One thing I will say about Villa this season, you'd have expected Andre Green to have been given his chance in the first team, but he's only made a handful of appearances from the bench so far