I think we'll start really well and look really on it with some crisp passing and getting into some good positions without really creating a chance. We'll have around 65% possession and the Brummies will be getting restless. Then in around the 19th minute a slack pass played square around halfway between our box and halfway will get pounced on from which Villa will take the lead. They'll then dominate the rest of the half with a combination of good goalkeeping and bad finishing keeping it 1-0 until they score from a set piece in stoppage time. The first 15 minutes of the second half will be played at testimonial pace before Dibling goes on one of his mazy runs which leads to a goal out of nowhere just after the hour mark. We'll then push hard for an equaliser for the next ten minutes or so and miss a chance or two through poor shooting/final ball before we give it up cheaply in midfield and Villa kill the game in the 74th minute. Final score 3-1 Villa. Martin will talk about how brave we are and how much we're improving in his post match interview and that if only Stephens was playing we'd have won 7-0. On the plus side though Stephens being unavailable gives him more opportunity to get out into the city centre and tell Martin how wonderful he is. Looking forward to it.
Three Southampton players could return for the MW15 trip to Aston Villa. Tyler Dibling, Flynn Downes and Taylor Harwood-Bellis all sat out the defeat to Chelsea after picking up their fifth bookings of the campaign in MW13. Jack Stephens was dismissed for violent conduct in Southampton's 5-1 defeat to Chelsea, earning a three-match suspension. But having previously been sent off in Matchweek 4, his ban is increased by one match to four. He will miss the Premier League encounters with Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham as well as the EFL Cup quarter-final against Liverpool. Credit. Premier League https://www.premierleague.com/news/4110053
I believe Villa were on an 8 game winless run, until they beat Brentford on Wednesday. Not sure if that win will make them more dangerous against us or if the relief of breaking the winless run will make them a little over confident. Expecting the first option but hoping for the second.
Just been on saintsweb to see if they're as despondent as we all are and seen that there's closures on the M42 this weekend
Whoever's going to Villa tomorrow please be vocal in anti-Martin chants. Need to force him out now. Even if this season is a lost cause.
On phone to villa now to find out if they have an away ticket office specifically and where it is. Number 22 in the queue...
Nice one have hung up now. Just with the roads likely to be awful I want to have a rough idea of where I'm going.
What could work in our favour is that Unai Emery has clearly never seen us play: "For us it's a challenge, how we can compete against this team, more or less at the beginning, knowing their capacity to keep the ball possession is one of the best in the Premier League. I know with my experiences, if we are not being organised in our press, we can struggle, playing against a team like Southampton."
When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea; and the sooner you lot understand that the sooner we’ll be free of all this bloody moaning
