21/08/2020 : The Season 2020-2021 fixtures for the EPL and EFL have been released today. Apart from the copyright issue, there is no point posting AVFC's fixtures here as many will be moved for TV or as with our first match, postponed because our opponents are involved in Europe. Link to AVFC's fixtures on the SSN website : https://www.skysports.com/aston-villa-fixtures These are the Tables (alpha sorted) for the top 6 levels, EPL, EFL and Conference. Level 1 (Premier League, EPL) Season 2020-2021 01 Arsenal 02 Aston Villa 03 Brighton and Hove Albion 04 Burnley 05 Chelsea 06 Crystal Palace 07 Everton 08 Fulham 09 Leeds United 10 Leicester City 11 Liverpool 12 Manchester City 13 Manchester United 14 Newcastle United 15 Sheffield United 16 Southampton 17 Tottenham Hotspur 18 West Bromwich Albion 19 West Ham United 20 Wolverhampton Wanderers Key Uefa Champions League: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Europa League: 5th Relegation: 18th, 19th, 20th Level 2 (EFL1, Championship) Season 2020-2021 01 Barnsley 02 Birmingham City 03 Blackburn Rovers 04 Bournemouth 05 Brentford 06 Bristol City 07 Cardiff City 08 Coventry City 09 Derby County 10 Huddersfield Town 11 Luton Town 12 Middlesbrough 13 Millwall 14 Norwich City 15 Nottingham Forest 16 Preston North End 17 Queens Park Rangers 18 Reading 19 Rotherham United 20 Sheffield Wednesday 21 Stoke City 22 Swansea City 23 Watford 24 Wycombe Wanderers Key Promotion: 1st, 2nd Play Off: 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th Relegation: 22nd, 23rd, 24th Level 3 (EFL2, League 1) Season 2020-2021 01 Accrington Stanley 02 Blackpool 03 Bristol Rovers 04 Burton Albion 05 Charlton Athletic 06 Crewe Alexandra 07 Doncaster Rovers 08 Fleetwood Town 09 Gillingham 10 Hull City 11 Ipswich Town 12 Lincoln City 13 Milton Keynes Dons 14 Northampton Town 15 Oxford United 16 Peterborough United 17 Plymouth Argyle 18 Portsmouth 19 Rochdale 20 Shrewsbury Town 21 Sunderland 22 Swindon Town 23 Wigan Athletic 24 Wimbledon AFC Key Promotion: 1st, 2nd Play Off: 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th Relegation: 22nd, 23rd, 24th Level 4 (EFL3, League 2) Season 2020-2021 01 Barrow 02 Bolton Wanderers 03 Bradford City 04 Cambridge United 05 Carlisle United 06 Cheltenham Town 07 Colchester United 08 Crawley Town 09 Exeter City 10 Forest Green Rovers 11 Grimsby Town 12 Harrogate Town 13 Leyton Orient 14 Mansfield Town 15 Morecambe 16 Newport County AFC 17 Oldham Athletic 18 Port Vale 19 Salford City 20 Scunthorpe United 21 Southend United 22 Stevenage 23 Tranmere Rovers 24 Walsall Key Promotion: 1st, 2nd, 3rd Play Off: 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th Relegation: 24th *** Level 5, Step 1 (Conference National) Season 2020-2021 01 Aldershot Town 02 Altrincham 03 Barnet 04 Boreham Wood 05 Bromley 06 Chesterfield 07 Dagenham & Redbridge 08 Dover Athletic 09 Eastleigh 10 FC Halifax Town 11 Hartlepool United 12 King's Lynn Town 13 Macclesfield Town 14 Maidenhead United 15 Notts County 16 Solihull Moors 17 Stockport County 18 Sutton United 19 Torquay United 20 Wealdstone 21 Weymouth 22 Woking 23 Wrexham 24 Yeovil Town Level 6, Step 2 (Conference National North) Season 2020-2021 01 Alfreton Town 02 Blyth Spartans 03 Boston United 04 Brackley Town 05 Bradford (Park Avenue) 06 Chester 07 Chorley 08 Curzon Ashton 09 Darlington 10 Farsley Celtic 11 Fylde AFC 12 Gateshead 13 Gloucester City 14 Guiseley 15 Hereford 16 Kettering Town 17 Kidderminster Harriers 18 Leamington 19 Southport 20 Spennymoor Town 21 Telford United AFC 22 York City Level 6, Step 2 (Conference National South) Season 2020-2021 01 Bath City 02 Billericay Town 03 Braintree Town 04 Chelmsford City 05 Chippenham Town 06 Concord Rangers 07 Dartford 08 Dorking Wanderers 09 Dulwich Hamlet 10 Eastbourne Borough 11 Ebbsfleet United 12 Hampton & Richmond Borough 13 Havant and Waterlooville 14 Hemel Hempstead Town 15 Hungerford Town 16 Maidstone United 17 Oxford City 18 Slough Town 19 St Albans City 20 Tonbridge Angels 21 Welling United
06/09/2020 : The Draws for the Second and Third Rounds of the League Cup have been made today. Last season's runners-up Aston Villa are away to Burton Albion in the Second Round (North Section). Second-round ties are to be played the week commencing September 14 with third-round matches the following week. Update 07/09/2020 : AVFC on SKY Aston Villa's match against Burton will begin Sky Sports' live League Cup coverage for the week when they travel to Burton on Tuesday 15 September with a 7.45pm kick-off. Third Round : Bristol City or Northampton Town v Burton Albion or Aston Villa
13/09/2020 : September sees a full house of disruptions to AVFC's opening EPL fixtures, one postponed and our other two games moved for SKY, who also cover our League Cup tie. None of our matches are listed on the BBC or BT Sport so far and Premier Sports can GTF. Sat 12/09/2020 : 01 : Manchester City v Aston Villa - Postponed : Man City in Euros. Tue 15/09/2020 : FL : Burton Albion 19:45 Aston Villa - League Cup Round Two - SKY Mon 21/09/2020 : 02 : Aston Villa 18:00 Sheffield United - SKY (from Sat 19th) Mon 28/09/2020 : 03 : Fulham 18:00 Aston Villa - SKY (from Sat 26th)
13/09/2020 : Two 'bounce' games and two victories for AVFC, 3-2 on 05/09/2020 at Arsenal and yesterday 1-0 against Man United. Let us see these results repeated in the EPL, that will be the true test. Aston Villa @AVFCOfficial Ollie Watkins scored the only goal as our pre-season schedule was completed with a 1-0 win over Manchester United at Villa Park!
Football League Cup Round Two (North), Tuesday 15/09/2020 : Burton Albion 1-3 Aston Villa Banana skin avoided, goals from Watkins, Grealish (a belter!) and Davis took AVFC from 0-1 down to 3-1 up. Our Third Round opponents play tomorrow, I will update their score in this post. Update 16/09/2020 : FLC Round Two (South) : Bristol City 4-0 Northampton Town
17/09/2020 : The League Cup 4th Round Draw was made today, giving AVFC a Home fixture if we win at Bristol City next week. Third Round : Thu 24/09/2020 : Bristol City v Aston Villa Fourth Round : Bristol City or Aston Villa v Stoke City or Gillingham
EPL (Premier League), Monday 21/09/2020 : Aston Villa v Sheffield United, KO 18:00 hours, SKY. 18/09/2020 : We see AVFC start the EPL campaign one week behind all the other teams due to the postponement of our opening game at Man City ... no info as to when that game will be played, atm. Let us see AVFC start with a win on Monday, setting the stage for a successful Season with the minimum league target of a top ten place ... and all the way in the Cups ! My AVF prediction, made today : Aston Villa 2-1 Sheffield United
EPL (Premier League), Monday 21/09/2020 : Aston Villa 1-0 Sheffield United I had to rely on the SSN Live Commentary and my Twitter feed for this match. The latter showed Martinez's 36th minute penalty save and Konsa's 63rd minute goal, which delivered the victory tonight. The Blades received an early yellow card for a foul on Grealish and a red card for denial of a goal-scoring opportunity, reducing them to 10 men from the 12th minute onwards. That early yellow card was welcome, too many opponents think they can beat AVFC by fouling JG and too many have done this with impunity.
League Cup Third Round : Thursday 24/09/2020 : Bristol City v Aston Villa, KO 19:00 hours. 22/09/2020 : A game AVFC as an EPL Club are expected to win, so let us see this fixture through as expected. Fourth Round, winners home to : Stoke City or Gillingham - Killum, Gillum ! - personal bias, my Kentish roots. My AVF prediction, made today : Bristol City 0-3 Aston Villa
23/09/2020 : AVFC have announced two more fixture changes today. 02 : Mon 28/09/2020 : Fulham 17:45 Aston Villa - SKY (Sat 26/09/2020) & 23/09/2020 KO time changed 03 : Sun 04/10/2020 : Aston Villa 19:15 Liverpool - SKY (Sat 03/10/2020)
League Cup Third Round : Thursday 24/09/2020 : Bristol City 0-3 Aston Villa El Ghazi and Traore (debut goal) scored in the 1st half and Ollie Watkins scored our third goal in the 2nd in what looks to have been a good professional performance from AVFC tonight, doing what we should expect from an EPL team. We are home next week to Stoke City, after their 3rd Round win yesterday : Stoke City 1-0 Gillingham
EPL (Premier League), Monday 28/09/2020 : Fulham v Aston Villa, KO 17:45 hours, SKY. 25/09/2020 : I hope we see AVFC's attacking strikeforce deliver the result again on Monday, although I expect Fulham to provide more potent opposition than that which we faced down at Bristol City. My AVF prediction, made today : Fulham 1-3 Aston Villa
EPL (Premier League), Monday 28/09/2020 : Fulham 0-3 Aston Villa I was multi-tasking this evening, listening to the match commentary on the Radio whilst reading the SSN Live Commentary and my Twitter feed too, with our goals shown on the latter. A very satisfactory result from what sounded like a comfortable performance. Well worked goals from Grealish and Hourihane gave AVFC a 1st half lead and Mings stretched to add our third in the 2nd half. Fulham had a goal disallowed for a foul. So we have a clean sheet tonight which has ended a 26 game run of AVFC conceding away goals, 54 in all ... matching Rangers' League Titles ! ... AVFC will concede goals in away games in the future, but I trust we will never get anywhere near 26/54 again !
League Cup Round Four, Thursday 01/10/2020 : Aston Villa v Stoke City, KO 19:00 hours. 29/09/2020 : AVFC face Level 2 opposition again on Thursday and I expect us to win comfortably, but without disrespecting our opponents. They might even score against us, probably from a penalty, given for 'handball' against Matt Targett ! My AVF prediction, made today : Aston Villa 4-1 Stoke City
League Cup Round Four, Thursday 01/10/2020 : Aston Villa 0-1 Stoke City This looks like another case of playing a weakened team and losing a match that was otherwise winnable. Consequently AVFC join Wolves as a scalp for Stoke City in their League Cup campaign.
EPL (Premier League), Sunday 04/10/2020 : Aston Villa v Liverpool, KO 19:15 hours, SKY. 03/10/2020 : I hope AVFC's winning EPL start continues tomorrow but it probably will not. As I never predict against AVFC, I compromise with a cautious 1-1 draw. My AVF prediction, made today : Aston Villa 1-1 Liverpool
EPL (Premier League), Sunday 04/10/2020 : Aston Villa 7-2 Liverpool So much for the cautious draw ... maybe I should predict one every game ! I followed this game three-ways, Radio commentary, SSN Live Commentary and my Twitter feed. So for the record our goalscorers were Watkins (3), Grealish (2), McGinn and Barkley. An excellent result which could have seen even more goals. Now I hear commentators saying this result is a 'freak' ... the only thing possibly 'freakish' is the high scoreline, but this result is the sort of result we should expect from AVFC. Ours is no tinpot diddy team, Aston Villa is and always has been one of the major Clubs in English football. I trust that now AVFC has reliable owners, we are witnessing the start of the journey back to the pinnacle of English football, which is where Aston Villa naturally belongs.
Fully deserved that win lazzman. Shocker of a result. Not just beaten but absolutely ****in smashed tbh. Whatever piss off