2010-11-10

watch aston villa vs blackpool live

By: In

هناك تعليقان (2):

Mr.MeBoOo يقول...

Aston Villa play host to Blackpool at Villa Park with the home side in the grip of a striker injury crisis.

Gerard Houllier's side are currently without John Carew (calf), Emile Heskey (knee) and Gabriel Agbonlahor (groin), leaving youngster Nathan Delfouneso to lead the line, with Ashley Young pushed into a more advanced role.

That set-up seemed to work well at the weekend, but a last-gasp equaliser proved costly as Villa drew 1-1 at Fulham.

The Seasiders also had to settle for a draw on Saturday afternoon, but their display in the 2-2 scoreline at home to Everton was highly promising.

Ian Holloway's men were twice ahead of the Toffees, as they gave another attacking display, the like of which has shown why their tag as relegation certainties may well be misplaced.

Blackpool have yet to draw a league game on their travels this season, but Villa Park may be the place where that statistic is blown out of the water.

Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Blackpool.
Half-time/Full-time: Draw/Draw.
First goalscorer: Charlie Adam.
Total goals: 2-3.

Team News:
Villa will be without three frontmen, with Carew the latest to be sidelined by a calf injury which has seen him join Heskey (knee) and Agbonlahor (groin) on the sidelines.

Skipper Stiliyan Petrov is also absent due to a knee ligament injury which could see him miss as much as three months, while Nigel Reo-Coker limped off in the draw at Fulham and is unlikely to feature.

Blackpool boss Holloway is without defender Alex Baptiste due to a knee injury, while striker Billy Clarke's season was ended before it began by a knee problem.

Past Meetings:
These two sides have not met since the 1974-75 season, when Villa did the double by winning 3-0 at Bloomfield Road and 1-0 on home soil.

The previous season the Seasiders did a double of their own, while the last top-flight meeting of these two teams came in January 1967, with Villa winning 3-2 on home turf.

10 نوفمبر 2010 في 3:12 م
Mr.MeBoOo يقول...

On the 14 April 1999, I was invited by a colleague to go to Villa Park to watch the FA Cup replay between Manchester United and Arsenal (it was the one famous for the Ryan Giggs 'past five players' goal). Three days later I was at Deepdale watching Brett Ormerod pop Preston's promotion bubble. In terms of great weeks of football that has to be one of them.

I remember thinking that night at Aston Villa's ground that unless we drew them in the FA Cup the chances of me ever seeing Blackpool play there were practically non-existant (bear in mind this is at a time when Nigel Worthington was in charge of the side and we played in a ramshackle old ground). So who would have thought it would only take 11 years for me to see a Seasiders side on that vast stage. Nearly 43,000 can fit in to Villa Park and it is an impressive stadium with a history of memorable games. Quite what the Villa fans will make of Blackpool visiting remains to be seen but hopefully we can silence them as we have three other sets of home fans this season.

Despite the disappointing result and performance at Birmingham a couple of weeks back, the Seasiders away record is still looked on with envy by most teams in the Prem. We have a better away record than both Arsenal and Manchester United and the fact that five sides have still to get a win on the road in this league shows how well we've done to have already notched up three. Villa are unbeaten at home this season (always like a stat where there is a record to be broken!) with two wins and three draws although they have only conceded once at Villa Park all season. They lie 14th in the Premier League which is well below where most Villa fans feel they should be although with the Martin O'Neill magic gone, you do wonder if they are going to become something of a mid-table side.

When you collect four points at home from two games it does take the pressure off a bit on the road but with Villa midweek and West Ham on Saturday, Ollie should be expecting to see a couple more points on the board by the weekend. Looking at the form table (past 8 games) both Villa and West Ham are below us and we're not newcomers to this anymore and so the form table is a good gauge as to where we are. Keeping the squad fit and injury free has played a part in our form so far and going in to this game Carigh Cathcart has a sore knee whilst Alex Baptiste is the only other short term injury doubt. With two big games in three days, Ollie has indicated he will be digging deep in to his squad which could mean starts for Harewood, Sylvestre, Keinan and even Basham.

Gerard Houllier wasn't every Villa fans first choice for a new manager which will mean he has to win the fans over and so far it's been a very indifferent start. That said, the former Liverpool manager has had a lot of injuries to contend with - the sort which would cripple Blackpool's squad. When you lose Emile Heskey, John Carew, Steve Sidwell, Stiliyan Petrov and Nigel Reo-Coker then you have problems. The only good piece of news for Houllier is that Gabriel Agbonlahor is fit for the bench. Midfielder Stewart Downing is the club's top scorer on four goals.

So a big night at Villa Park and it will be interesting to see how Ollie plays this one. A full strength Villa side may have seen attention turn to Upton Park on Saturday but can Blackpool exploit one rife with injuries?

10 نوفمبر 2010 في 3:13 م

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