please log in to view this image ............................................... please log in to view this image Aston Villa................................... vs ...................... Swansea City Villa Park Birmingham Tues 02-01-12 15:00 PM KO For links to watch the game online, click HERE Welcome one and all to the match thread for the game between Aston Villa and Swansea. Fans will be hoping for a more exciting match-up than the one witnessed at the Liberty Stadium, where both teams successfully nullified each other in a game which was, in all honesty, remembered for reasons other than football. The last time these teams met at Villa Park was back in September 1982, a First Division match that resulted in 2-0 win for the Villains. What's more, the Swans have failed to take even a single point from Villa park as yet. Will this be the game the Swans turn their away form around? The Match; Both teams come into this game on the back of positive results. Villa's was undoubtedly the more impressive, securing a 3-1 away win at Stamford Bridge, but the Swans will also have reason to be confident after an excellent showing at home to high-flying Tottenham Hotspur. A win for Villa today would be the first time this season they've managed to win twice in a row, while three points for the Swans would go a long way to appeasing fears about both relegation and their away form. A point at home to Spurs was good enough for the Swans to make it 20 points by the halfway mark, and if they can repeat that feat in the second half of the season that should see them safe in their quest to avoid relegation, while Villa sit 3 points ahead. A 2 goal away win would see the Swans leapfrog Villa due to goal difference. Both managers were possibly starting to feel the strain as victories have been hard to come by, but recent results have given hope and both teams will be looking to kick on in this fixture and start 2012 with a bang. Aston Villa secured a 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge on New Year's Eve playing patient counter-attacking football based on a solid defence. That was preceded by a 0-0 draw away at Stoke and a 2-1 home loss to Arsenal, so McLeish's men will be looking to capitalise on that performance and gain back to back victories for the first time this season. It will be interesting to see whether Villa line up with a 4-4-2 or stick with the 4-5-1 which served them so well at Stamford Bridge. Swansea made six changes between the two 1-1 home draws against QPR and Spurs respectively, but the latter performance was undoubtedly the better one. Brendan Rodgers will have to make some tough choices given some performances against Spurs, and we could see a few selection surprises at Villa Park. Stephen Dobbie looked good in spells and there is a vocal section of Swans fans who feel he should be in the starting lineup more often. Prior Form; (most recent at top) Swansea City 1 -1 Tottenham Premier League Swansea City 1 -1 QPR Premier League Everton 1 - 0 Swansea City Premier League Newcastle Utd 0 - 0 Swansea City Premier League Swansea City 2 -0 Fulham Premier League Chelsea 1 - 3 Aston Villa Premier League Stoke 0 - 0 Aston Villa Premier League Aston Villa 1 - 2 Arsenal Premier League Aston Villa 0 - 2 Liverpool Premier League Bolton 1 - 2 Aston Villa Premier League Team News Aston Villa Shay Given (hamstring), Emile Heskey (Achilles), Chris Herd (ankle) and Eric Lichaj (hip) are all likely to be unavailable through injury. Swansea should have Angel Rangel back to full fitness, and Steven Caulker is available again after missing the Spurs game due to them being his parent club. Trivia; - "Courtesy" of Opta Completely guessed lineups; Aston Villa Guzan Warnock Hutton Dunne Collins N'Zogbia Albrighton Ireland Petrov Bent Agbonlahor Swansea City Vorm Rangel Taylor Caulker Williams Britton Augustien Allen Sinclair Dyer Graham Key Battles; Ireland vs Britton I'm a big fan of Stephen Ireland, and it's no surprise to me that his inclusion coincided with an excellent result away at Chelsea. Having said that, I'm going to buck the trend and say that I think that result was equal parts Villa playing solid, passing football/Chelsea continuing to fall apart. Stephen Ireland has the quality to torment any defence, and Swansea's "registá" will need to keep him quiet if the Swans are to stop the ball progressing to Villa's pacy forwards. Analysis; After being perhaps a tad negative ahead of the Spurs game (given the result) I've decided to be more upbeat about this game, despite the possibility that one of our players might be injured by Alan Hutton for the second time in a few weeks. Villa had an excellent game (from what I saw) against Chelsea, and they have the players to play counter attacking football. Bent, Agbonlahor, Albrighton, and N'Zogbia all possess terrific pace and will need to be watched, whatever formation they are played in. I expect all four to start against the Swans as surely at home to a newly promoted side who have the worst away record in the UK, Villa must see this as a game they should be winning. I'm hoping that at home Villa will put more emphasis on football than on spoiling, as at the Liberty Stadium, in my opinion, the performance was set out to stop the Swans playing by whatever means necessary. Hutton could've broken Neil Taylor's leg, Richard Dunne injured Danny Graham and it was a miracle more people weren't hurt. 0-0 though, so it worked, and fair play a point is a point. Some would say that is a typical example of a McLeish team, but Villa have quality players, and that should shine through. If your midfield is N'Zogbia, Petrov, Ireland and Albrighton, you shouldn't be aiming to kick people, you should be looking to attack at pace, especially if you've got two players ahead of you such as Bent and Agbonlahor, who have the pace to trouble any defence. If Villa line up 4-5-1, I suspect the home fans may grow impatient very quickly as it's likely the Swans will just nick the ball and not give it back for large periods of time. The Swans will undoubtedly line up in their traditional 4-5-1 but the contents of the midfield engine will be a mystery to everyone apart from insiders until the team sheets are announced. A good show of squad depth against Spurs has raised some selection questions Brendan Rodgers possibly hadn't anticipated, and he will no doubt be thinking long and hard before submitting his final team sheet. Swansea suddenly seem to have a wealth of midfielders clamouring for the 3 central spots. Gower, Allen and Dobbie all played well against Spurs, but Britton is likely to switch back into midfield, at the expense of one of Allen or Gower I'd imagine. Kemy Augustien continues to push for starts, while Luke Moore played well against Spurs, and has played at attacking midfield for us, so with the surely-returning Danny Graham in the team Rodgers is possibly also considering him for the attacking midfielder slot. If Villa line up 4-4-2, I can see them troubling the Swans (especially if Monk retains his place ahead of Caulker which I'll admit is unlikely) with their pace, but the Swans aren't slow at the back and defensively they've been very solid this year. Villa will need to press high up the field and pin our defence in to stop us playing out of the back, and Bent and Agbonlahor will need to do their fair share of leg-work is they are to stop the Swans retaining possession. If Villa line up with a 4-5-1 I'm much more confident of a result to the Welshmen. It's very hard to predict who is going to feature in this game given squad rotation around this time of year, but after feeling the least confident I have this season before the Spurs game, I have renewed hope and confidence in the Swans. Villa will need to play well to secure a result here, and I'm backing the Swans to break their duck both at Villa Park, and away in the Premier League. Iechyd Da. Scott
we have a great chance if we continue to play the way we did against spurs thats for sure, it was a great display and a massive improvement in going forward and taken shots on goal. dobbie proved that he needs to play more often and moore needs to as well. danny done a good job when he came on and even though he is better suited in central midfield and not as our main striker. He is good at holding the ball up for others to get in a scoring position. it was a much improved display with the changes Brendan did and his subs were spot on for once, now lets have more of the same against villa and we can walk away with a result.....
Where's the best place to park near the Villa Park? Any help would be greatful Thanks in advance In the swans goalmouth would be handy .... only joking
Buck had balls hanging to his knees picking that line up for the Spurs , a managerial masterpiece really , I would even hazard a guess for who starts this one . It was all about home points this season in 2011 , it's all about away points in 2012 though & away we go !!
You look at that Villa team and it's frightening (on paper). Swans to win 1-2. Donnelly coming off the bench to snatch a winner as the Jack Army goes wild.......
Wonder how Donnelly enjoyed the game sitting at Liberty , I'll bet he was fully confident about who he signed for , if there was any doubt lingering , .
I bet he has never seen anything like that! What a great day - I am still not over it. If we snatched a late winner I think I would have had a heart attack.
I watched the game 3 times , pure joy every time .... Proud is just not big enough to express what I felt , Williams was absolutely emmence , emmince ... really big !!
I keep on thinking of our days in Div 4 and I keep on pinching myself. Off to Aston Villa tomorrow. I will say that again. Off to Aston Villa tomorrow. That sounds great.
Quality thread as usual Scotty! Our first 'return leg' in the premiership is going to be very hard on the legs after just 48 hours rest, so those players that were dropped for Spurs game should be playing. Obviously Villa have the same fixture problems, and that's why they rested Bent. He'll be full of confidence after scoring against Chelsea, and there's not many better than a cocky Darren Bent. Hopefully Agbonlahor will be too tired to start after 90 minutes at Chelsea, and Rangel and Caulker will be back after neither started against Spurs. I think your lineups are right except for Routledge in for Sinclair, just because he worked his ass off against Spurs. And maybe Luke Moore in for Kemy if BR wants to keep with the attacking style of Saturday. I think having played Villa, we know we can attack more than we did last time we played. I see this game being fairly similar to the game at the Liberty, with Villa trying to move the ball forward as fast as possible and the Swans trying to slow it down as much as possible, but I think we will have the fresher legs (depending on the lineups), and if they try to press and kick us all game again, they'll have trouble keeping up with our tippa-tappa for 90 minutes. I fancy us for the first away win, but to be honest would be more than happy with a point from Villa Park.
What a game for Donnelly to watch! Bet he's chuffed with his decision now. Does anyone really see him getting a game any time soon? Surely his fitness levels aren't anywhere near what required yet... As to the game, I'm feeling fairly confident. I'm not impressed by Chelsea this season and I'm gutted we played them away so early on, as I'd fancy our chances now! I think that while Villa played well, the result had a lot to do with the continued implosion of AVB and Chelsea, and for that reason I think Villa will be perhaps overconfident coming into the game. We've only won once since last meeting them, against Fulham, so they've surely got to view us as a "should be winning" home game, but the Swans have enough about them to spring a surprise.
