Don't know who was down for today's match thread, but it hasn't materialised so here goes --- TEAM NEWS Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has included his trio of transfer deadline-day signings in the squad for Saturday's home Premier League clash with Swansea. Strikers Christian Benteke and Jordan Bowery, plus midfielder Ashley Westwood, are in contention to start against the unbeaten Swans. Benteke, a £7million signing from Genk, impressed Lambert when in midweek action for Belgium against Croatia. Defender Richard Dunne (groin) and winger Marc Albrighton (foot) are still ruled out although the latter will return to training next week. Injuries and suspension will force Swansea manager Michael Laudrup into a defensive reshuffle at Aston Villa. Neil Taylor is out for the season after breaking his ankle against Sunderland, while Chico Flores starts a three-match ban after his red card in that game. Kyle Bartley (ruptured quad) and Garry Monk (back) are also out. Ben Davies and Alan Tate are set to come into the back four with new arrival Dwight Tiendalli on the bench. Ki Sung-Yueng and record signing Pablo Hernandez are also set to be named among the substitutes. MANAGER QUOTES Paul Lambert (Aston Villa) on his players returning from international duty: "They’ve been fine. They trained yesterday. They came back and trained yesterday and were a little bit tired. They will be okay today and tomorrow they will be fine. It’s not something I really worry about because it happens. It’s set in stone what international fixtures there are so it’s not something I really worry about to be honest. You’ve got to hope the lads come back fit. You can’t change it so there’s no point in worrying about it. It’s not idea but you have to run with it.” Michael Laudrup (Swansea): "We can draw a lot from the Sunderland game, but at the same time that was two weeks ago now. We have another cycle of games coming up now with three league games and the cup tie with Crawley before the next international break. It is important that we stick to what we know and keep doing the things that have brought us success so far. We have a lot of confidence, and that is very important. But we can always improve, and that should be the mentality.” MATCH STATS Michu has scored four goals from just four shots on target in the Premier League. Michu is only the fourth player since 1993 to score in each of his first three PL games from the start of the season (Pogrebnyak, Mutu, Michael Ricketts). All 10 of Swansea’s goals have been netted from open play so far. Aston Villa are on a run of 13 Premier League games without a win (W0 D6 L7). On home soil, the Villans have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games (W1 D5 L8). Swansea have lost just one of their last eight Premier League games (W4 D3 L1). Paul Lambert has enjoyed four wins and just one defeat in five games as a coach against Swansea City, including two victories in the Premier League last season. Swansea have only won four of the 16 league meetings with Aston Villa, but they have won two and drawn one of the last three. Villa won the first seven home league games against Swansea without conceding a goal, but the Welsh side broke that run last season with a 2-0 win at Villa Park. This is Aston Villa’s worst start to a Premier League season barring 1997-98 when they had no points after three matches. MATCH ODDS Aston Villa (6/4), Swansea (7/3), Draw (7/3)
I think those are excellent odds for a Swans win. Bet 300, get 1000 back. Pity I can't place any bets here.
Teams ASTON VILLA: Brad Guzan, Ron Vlaar (capt), Ciaran Clark, Stephen Ireland, Karim El Ahmadi, Darren Bent, Brett Holman, Barry Bannan, Andreas Weimann, Eric Lichaj, Matthew Lowton. Subs: Shay Given, Charles N'Zogbia, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Westwood, Christian Benteke, Jordan Bowery, Joe Bennett. SWANS: Michel Vorm, Angel Rangel, Alan Tate, Ashley Williams (capt), Ben Davies, Leon Britton, Jonathan de Guzman, Michu, Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge, Danny Graham. Subs: Gerhard Tremmel, Jazz Richards, Kemy Agustien, Ki Sung-Yueng, Pablo Hernandez, Luke Moore, Itay Shechter. My prediction 3-1 the swans
http://www.vipboxsports.eu/watch/71431/1/aston-villa-vs-swansea-city-fc-live-stream-online.html This one works for me.
I thought we did ok actually. Only beaten by a swerve or deflection. Lambert's got them working very hard to close us down as expected.
Not worried too much at this point. We have been better in the second half of every game so far this season - hope we keep that up today. I certainly feel we can still win this game.
their goal seemed a bit soft, not long after the wonderful double save by their keeper. Graham perhaps could've/should've scored at the end. all in all, unlucky to be a goal down, it's there to be won!
villa are the better side so far, we need to up the tempo a bit to get anything from this..another villa goal will kill us i reckon...
