John

I rather hope that the only way that we might play either would be in a cup tie.

We now have our place in the top six. The battle is to stay there. Derby and Bristol City may have a game and two games in hand of us respectively, but we have the points on the board. City must also visit Villa Park and neither of these teams are currently winning games for fun, are they? The likes of Preston, Forest and Wednesday are behind us, so they would need to have a better finish than we do to the season, in order to overhaul us. As Ron Saunders once said at the business end of a very successful season, “Do you want to bet against us?” Yesterday’s fourth successive victory has taken us into the play off places. Who would have thought that likely just a couple of weeks ago? The win has left us just a point behind Middlesbrough, who must now fear being overtaken by the team that knocked them out of the play offs last season and completed the double over them yesterday. They are in our sights now and so is promotion! Eight games of this season remain, or could it be 11? The international break has come at a time when we are on a tremendous run that looks like it could sweep us into the end of season play offs. We must use this break to our advantage. Let’s hope that players who are on international duty return to us fit and that a couple of those who are currently on the treatment table, near fitness during this period of club inactivity. We currently have the look of a team that is putting together a late run to make the play offs, that other clubs will not relish meeting in them. Clubs that enter the play offs on the crest of a run of good results, often take the promotion spot from teams that have finished above them over the course of the season. We could be that club this year. If we can play as well as we have done in the last 4 games, in our final 8 games of the season and then do the same in the 3 play-off games, it just could be on, after all! The high winds and second half rain were not conducive to good football. Tony Pulis must have welcomed the conditions then and our visitors from Teesside might well have been reminded of a summer’s day back at home! They may have come to Villa Park to park the bus, but they left it in the club car park and their usually solid defence was breached three times. Villa were not to be distracted by the weather conditions. We dominated this game from start to finish. If it had been a boxing match, it would have been stopped before we applied the coup de grace on the 88th minute. I don’t want to tempt fate, but it seems that our defence might now have reached the point where a two-goal lead can prove to be enough to secure a win. My player ratings from a game that left us surprisingly and unexpectedly optimistic, about our play off prospects are: Jed Steer – 6 – Not unduly troubled by the visitor’s attack but appeared both confident and assured. Ahmed Elmohamady – 7 – Another solid performance from Elmo, who is doing more than a bit to make our defence look increasingly and reassuringly solid. Kortney Hause - 7 – Solid, unflustered and looking increasingly confident, alongside Tyrone in the centre of our defence. Tyrone Mings – 8 – His towering presence in the centre of the defence is increasingly impressive. He has so much time on the ball, is unrushed, confident and is the rock on which our defence is currently built. His was an inspired signing! Neil Taylor – 7 – This was a no-nonsense defensive performance, which is exactly what we have been looking for from him. Keep it up Tayls! Glenn Whelan – 8 – MOTM – Didn’t put a foot wrong yesterday. I can’t recall him playing better in our shirt than this. He was the cog in our midfield engine and allowed Jack and John to move forward knowing that he was on hand behind them. Hit a 52nd minute shot from the edge of the box wide of the left-hand post. It must have been nice for him to hear the crowd acknowledging his tremendous performance yesterday. Andre Green – 6 – Substituted after 65 minutes having not over troubled Friend on the right. John McGinn – 8 – Scored one and made one, what’s not to like? Headed a 1st minute El Ghazi cross over. Hit a nice ball to find El Ghazi in space on the edge of the box for our first. Grealish played a ball inside for Abraham that ran past him for John to pick up and run with to the edge of the box before hitting our second into the right-hand corner of the net. Jack Grealish – 8 – Hit the foot of the near post on 62 minutes, having ran inside the box following a short corner. Gave another captain’s performance, led by example, teased opponents with his skills and his presence created space for his teammates. Had a 36th minute shot from the edge of the box deflected wide on 36 minutes. Anwar El Ghazi – 7 – He looks a little like Ronaldo to me from a distance (I must get my eyesight checked), he doesn’t play much like him yet, but this was a bright, encouraging performance from Anwar. Hit our opener on 28 minutes, when he was found unmarked on the edge of the box by McGinn. He proceeded to run into the box and slot the ball past the keeper and into the far corner of the net nicely. Grealish made a strong run forward from inside his own half, before finding him just inside the box but his 50th minute shot was hit just wide of the far post. Tammy Abraham – 7 – Worked hard, stayed busy made some nice forward runs and led the line well. The only thing that was missing was his 22nd goal and that will come another day. Hit a 61st minute ball from Elmo over on 61 minutes and a shot from the edge of the box wide of the right-hand post 3 minutes later. Substitutes: Albert Adomah – 6 – Replaced Green on 65 minutes and hit our third 23 minutes later, when he tapped home from close range after Randolph had been unable to hold a shot from Davis. Jonathan Kodjia - 6 – Replaced Tammy on 72 minutes. Keinan Davis - 6 – Made a rare first team appearance yesterday, coming off the bench to replace El Ghazi on 75 minutes. Elmo found him on the left of the box on 88 minutes, from where he got into a shooting position before curling a shot towards the far post that Randolph obligingly spilled for our third. Up the Villa! John Lewis

We now have our place in the top six. The battle is to stay there. Derby and Bristol City may have a game and two games in hand of us respectively, but we have the points on the board. City must also visit Villa Park and neither of these teams are currently winning games for fun, are they? The likes of Preston, Forest and Wednesday are behind us, so they would need to have a better finish than we do to the season, in order to overhaul us. As Ron Saunders once said at the business end of a very successful season, “Do you want to bet against us?” Yesterday’s fourth successive victory has taken us into the play off places. Who would have thought that likely just a couple of weeks ago? The win has left us just a point behind Middlesbrough, who must now fear being overtaken by the team that knocked them out of the play offs last season and completed the double over them yesterday. They are in our sights now and so is promotion! Eight games of this season remain, or could it be 11? The international break has come at a time when we are on a tremendous run that looks like it could sweep us into the end of season play offs. We must use this break to our advantage. Let’s hope that players who are on international duty return to us fit and that a couple of those who are currently on the treatment table, near fitness during this period of club inactivity. We currently have the look of a team that is putting together a late run to make the play offs, that other clubs will not relish meeting in them. Clubs that enter the play offs on the crest of a run of good results, often take the promotion spot from teams that have finished above them over the course of the season. We could be that club this year. If we can play as well as we have done in the last 4 games, in our final 8 games of the season and then do the same in the 3 play-off games, it just could be on, after all! The high winds and second half rain were not conducive to good football. Tony Pulis must have welcomed the conditions then and our visitors from Teesside might well have been reminded of a summer’s day back at home! They may have come to Villa Park to park the bus, but they left it in the club car park and their usually solid defence was breached three times. Villa were not to be distracted by the weather conditions. We dominated this game from start to finish. If it had been a boxing match, it would have been stopped before we applied the coup de grace on the 88th minute. I don’t want to tempt fate, but it seems that our defence might now have reached the point where a two-goal lead can prove to be enough to secure a win. My player ratings from a game that left us surprisingly and unexpectedly optimistic, about our play off prospects are: Jed Steer – 6 – Not unduly troubled by the visitor’s attack but appeared both confident and assured. Ahmed Elmohamady – 7 – Another solid performance from Elmo, who is doing more than a bit to make our defence look increasingly and reassuringly solid. Kortney Hause - 7 – Solid, unflustered and looking increasingly confident, alongside Tyrone in the centre of our defence. Tyrone Mings – 8 – His towering presence in the centre of the defence is increasingly impressive. He has so much time on the ball, is unrushed, confident and is the rock on which our defence is currently built. His was an inspired signing! Neil Taylor – 7 – This was a no-nonsense defensive performance, which is exactly what we have been looking for from him. Keep it up Tayls! Glenn Whelan – 8 – MOTM – Didn’t put a foot wrong yesterday. I can’t recall him playing better in our shirt than this. He was the cog in our midfield engine and allowed Jack and John to move forward knowing that he was on hand behind them. Hit a 52nd minute shot from the edge of the box wide of the left-hand post. It must have been nice for him to hear the crowd acknowledging his tremendous performance yesterday. Andre Green – 6 – Substituted after 65 minutes having not over troubled Friend on the right. John McGinn – 8 – Scored one and made one, what’s not to like? Headed a 1st minute El Ghazi cross over. Hit a nice ball to find El Ghazi in space on the edge of the box for our first. Grealish played a ball inside for Abraham that ran past him for John to pick up and run with to the edge of the box before hitting our second into the right-hand corner of the net. Jack Grealish – 8 – Hit the foot of the near post on 62 minutes, having ran inside the box following a short corner. Gave another captain’s performance, led by example, teased opponents with his skills and his presence created space for his teammates. Had a 36th minute shot from the edge of the box deflected wide on 36 minutes. Anwar El Ghazi – 7 – He looks a little like Ronaldo to me from a distance (I must get my eyesight checked), he doesn’t play much like him yet, but this was a bright, encouraging performance from Anwar. Hit our opener on 28 minutes, when he was found unmarked on the edge of the box by McGinn. He proceeded to run into the box and slot the ball past the keeper and into the far corner of the net nicely. Grealish made a strong run forward from inside his own half, before finding him just inside the box but his 50th minute shot was hit just wide of the far post. Tammy Abraham – 7 – Worked hard, stayed busy made some nice forward runs and led the line well. The only thing that was missing was his 22nd goal and that will come another day. Hit a 61st minute ball from Elmo over on 61 minutes and a shot from the edge of the box wide of the right-hand post 3 minutes later. Substitutes: Albert Adomah – 6 – Replaced Green on 65 minutes and hit our third 23 minutes later, when he tapped home from close range after Randolph had been unable to hold a shot from Davis. Jonathan Kodjia - 6 – Replaced Tammy on 72 minutes. Keinan Davis - 6 – Made a rare first team appearance yesterday, coming off the bench to replace El Ghazi on 75 minutes. Elmo found him on the left of the box on 88 minutes, from where he got into a shooting position before curling a shot towards the far post that Randolph obligingly spilled for our third. Up the Villa! John Lewis

Unbelievable! They should have only one focus following the game and it should not be on us. It is not the first time that our players have had their thugs assault them on the pitch. Enckelman was slapped on the face in 2002 and they are still doing the same 17 years later. No doubt they will get a fine at the most, given Small Heath would no doubt say the same happened at Arsenal hours later so they should be treated in the same way..

On Saturday afternoon we welcome Middlesbrough to Villa Park. A win would take us within a point of them and it would also take us into sixth place. Who would have thought a couple of weeks ago that was possible, or that it was possible so soon? We ended Boro’s play-off hopes at Villa Park last season. They have not won a league game against us since 2008. A win will bring us a double against them this season, after our 3-0 victory at the Riverside in December. Overall, we have won 60 and have drawn 32, of the 131 league meetings that there have been between the two clubs. Another win on Saturday would add to our growing confidence and would continue our winning run. Who knows, the two clubs might even meet again in the play offs? Those play offs had looked beyond us not so long ago and they still look a way off. We don’t have to win every game now though, as had appeared likely just a couple of games ago. Derby, Bristol City and Boro themselves have unexpectedly dropped points, so we now have them in our sights. Our new target is to get 2 more points than Bristol City do from our remaining games, 3 more than Derby do and 5 more than Boro do. We play both Boro and Bristol City at home, so wins from those games would make our task easier. We also need to make sure that no club that is currently behind us, have a better end to the season than we do. A fourth successive win won’t be easy, but it is necessary. Do it for us Villa!

But, imagine the fun if we won. I would be over the moon if we made the play offs, if we did I would guess that any side that faced us would not fancy it either. Bring them on! Bring any of them on!

Teddy Bishop got a few minutes last night for Ipswich. He might be worth a look in the summer. Like Mings, he has had his injury issues and like Tyrone he was very highly rated a couple of years ago. Can't imagine that he wouldn't jump at the chance to be rescued from League One and the fee would not now be what it would have once been.

I can't see us sharing 10 goals this time! A win would take us above Forest and might also take us within 3 points of sixth. This won't be an easy game though and our former manager and their current boss, will have them well up for this meeting of past Midland winners of the European Cup. We last won at Forest last season. They have one win to show from their last twelve league games against us. Overall we have won 52 and have drawn 29 of the 113 league meetings there have been between the two clubs. I think this has the makings of a good game of football. I really hope that we show up for this one. We can't afford to carry any passengers in this game and we need to find the consistently good away form we had before we lost Jack through injury last year. Another win would be ideal, a point would be better than the alternative. Win another one for us Villa!

I said on the match ratings & reactions thread, that we played a European Cup game at Villa Park against Besiktas behind closed doors in 1982. That acted as our punishment after a squaddie invaded the pitch and sat down in the penalty box during our semi final at Anderlecht. He didn't hit anyone, but they still wanted us thrown out of the competition! That clown from yesterday, should get a lifetime football ban and a lengthy stay at HMP Barlinnie as a result of his behaviour. Small Heath should also get at least one game played behind closed doors as a result of what he did to Jack yesterday. That might act as some deterrent to other idiots doing the same, like the one at Arsenal did later that same afternoon. Those fans that applauded and clapped him as he was escorted off the pitch, should also be identified and should face their own 2-year bans from the sty as a result of their reactions to the shameful incident. As for that vile, cruel, heartless and offensive twitter posting. The poster should get a life ban for that and a visit from the local police. How proud the Perkins family must be of this sick individual. I'm sure that 99.9999% of Small Heath fans would also be revolted by the post and ashamed to be associated with the monster who posted it!

There is precedent here. We played a European Cup game at Villa Park against Besiktas behind closed doors in 1982, after a squaddie invaded the pitch and sat down in the penalty box during our semi final at Anderlecht.

Would have started McGinn myself. Just win it for us lads.

They will never be a "big" club and will only leave the Championship by getting relegated from it , but I like your thinking. Come to think of it, they have been a big irritant to us, a big stain on the city and a big pile of something that comes out of a cow's behind for too long to mention!

The results certainly went our way, but that has happened before this season. We have failed to profit from other teams failings, too often due to turning in abject performances of our own that have left us feeling deflated. We have to win at Small Heath Alliance to take us above them, to do the double over them and to ruin any promotion hopes they might be entertaining before a points deduction does. Any lingering promotion ambitions that some of us might still have, can be put on hold until we have won this game and then the next four or five.

I suspect Guzan was just having a dig at him about his brother.

You couldn't make it up could you? I wonder which foot they wanted us to shoot ourselves in? Did they really think that we would do them a favour when it's them that we are playing? They really must think we are as thick as they are.

He's a Villa boy. He obviously can't make too much of it at the moment but just because his brother is a nose, it doesn't make Gary one. I'm only sorry that he currently has to sully himself by wearing their kit.

We probably would, but I'm sure we would get games given there are no stadiums in the Midlands that are close to our capacity. So all we need is to be given the World Cup, as Theresa May would no doubt say "simples".

We aim for a double against the knuckle draggers on Sunday. They will “welcome” us to their sty at the weekend, if that is the word for it. As Sir Alf Ramsey once said when a member of the press shouted, “Welcome to Scotland!” at Prestwick Airport in 1968, “You must be f*****g joking!” Small Heath Alliance have not beaten us in a league game since 2005. Since then we have won 9 of the 13 league meetings between the two clubs. Overall, we have won 48 and have drawn 31 of the 115 league meetings that there have been between the clubs that represent the pride and the shame of Birmingham respectively. A win will take us above the club from the dark side of the city and will restore natural order. I know that you shouldn’t change a winning side, but I think that we must crowbar McGinn into our team for this one. It’s a game that he will relish taking part in following his enforced rest. Just win this one for us Villa!

If that is actually our valuation then we had better raise it to £30m then.

The Ratings & Reactions topic on the individual match forums is open from the final whistle of every home and away game. It provides VT members with an immediate opportunity to post their comments on a game and to cast their votes on the MOTM, Manager/Referee performance polls. As well as their views on how players performed and their player ratings. My player match ratings appear later, when the dust has settled a little on the game and I have reflected on it for a bit. I have been posting my player match ratings for our home games on the front page of Villa Talk, as a member of the VT news team for many years now. I also do the same on the VT blog. I was posting these player match ratings when Dion Dublin was starring in our forward line, rather than presenting Homes Under the Hammer! All opinions on games and player performances from VT members, wherever they appear are equally valid. I welcome any comments readers may have upon my ratings and I thank everyone that looks at my regular contribution to this terrific site for taking the time to do so. I hope this will clarify why my player match ratings appear on the VT front page, rather than on the match thread.

They have not beaten us in the league at the sty that they call their home since 2005. We won the next 3 there after that defeat. They should be the ones who are not looking forward to this one.

Jack’s back and so were the Villa yesterday! Alan Durban, Kevin Hector, Roy McFarland, Alan Hinton, Archie Gemmill, Roger Davies and Francis Lee. Your boys took one hell of a beating! Captain Jack invigorated the team on his return and led by example. We have not looked nearly as good as we did yesterday, in the 13 league games that we have played without him, since injury deprived us of our talisman. One player does not make a team, but one player can help a team to play like one! Three first half goals won it for us at Pride Park in November and four first half goals won it for us at Villa Park yesterday. We have scored 7 goals against Frank Lampard’s Derby and have kept two clean sheets against them this season. If we could play them every week, then promotion might still not be quite beyond us! Villa rather than our visitors looked the serious promotion contenders yesterday. If only Jack had been able to come back a month earlier, we might have made a late run for the play offs. As it is, we are 6 points behind sixth place Bristol City. That gap could be pegged back to three points as they still have to visit Villa Park, but they do have a game in hand. Derby also have a run of 4 successive home games to follow this defeat, which still leaves them 3 points ahead of us. A more realistic and achievable target is therefore making it another double on Sunday! Our visitors were not at their best yesterday, but they seldom are at this stage of the season, are they? The scintillating first half performance that we produced yesterday, would have blown away any championship team though. We eased through the second half with the game already won but lost another central defender through injury during it. Tommy Elphick can now be added to Axel and Chester, on the treatment table, on the day that we got our Jack back. Could Chester be fit for selection by Sunday, I wonder? My player ratings from a game that left us remembering how good it feels to see a Villa home win and how hard it can prove to stop smirking after a victory such as this, are: Jed Steer – 6 – Had a quiet afternoon but his presence may be giving some much-needed confidence to the defenders who are in front of him. Ahmed Elmohamady – 7 – He retains the ball. Sometimes he plays the ball back behind him to do so but he doesn’t give the ball away too often. He does what it says on the tin and did so yesterday very well. He got an assist with a well-placed cross for our second. A good solid overall performance from Elmo. Tommy Elphick - 7 – Solid again alongside Tyrone before he was stretchered off on 67 minutes. He was unfortunately on crutches after the game. Appeared to catch his foot on the turf when moving towards a pass from Mings. This was cruel luck for Tommy, who has been twice the player he was before his loan spell, since returning to the club from Hull. Tyrone Mings – 8 – He looks increasingly composed and comfortable with each game. Headed an El Ghazi cross wide of the far post on 57 minutes. We must pull out all the stops to try to keep him at Villa Park next season! Kortney Hause – 7 – He wins plenty of ball in the air, doesn’t he? He understandably tends to drift towards the middle of the defence, which leaves room on his flank. Looked solid yesterday and played some nice balls out of defence. Looked comfortable when switched into the centre of our defence following Tommy’s substitution. Glenn Whelan – 8 – Glenn turned back the years yesterday and produced a very good solid all round midfield performance. He also hit the corner that Jack volleyed home to make it four before the half time whistle. Albert Adomah – 7 – Albert was involved, keen and made a positive impression during this game. Hit a shot over the bar from inside of the box on 20 minutes. Conor Hourihane – 8 – Back to his best yesterday at long last. Conor popped up here, there and everywhere. Grealish played a nice ball forward to El Ghazi whose cross was hit wide of the far post by Conor on 5 minutes. Four minutes later, Jack floated a superb ball for Abraham to run onto. Tammy’s attempt on goal was blocked by Carson, only for the ball to run onto Conor, who turned home our first. He then swept home our third and his second on 44 minutes, placing the ball past Carson from the edge of the box with some aplomb. Jack Grealish – 9 – MOTM – So much for needing a couple of games after a lengthy injury break to get back to his best! Jack was simply tremendous on his long-awaited return to the first team. He hit a magnificent, unstoppable volley from the edge of the box to give us our fourth goal in the 2nd minute of first half stoppage time from Whelan’s corner. He then hit a 55th minute shot from the edge of the box that Carson pushed away for a corner. He teased and worried Derby until leaving the field to a standing ovation on 71 minutes. Hopefully he will get a little more protection from match officials following his return from injury, although it only took 17 minutes for him to receive a first clumsy challenge that went unpunished yesterday. Anwar El Ghazi – 7 – Good to see him tracking back a couple of times and he did well when doing so. Made a strong run before hitting a cross that Tomori blocked a minute into first half stoppage time. The ball then cannoned off Wisdom into the side netting and we scored from the resulting corner. Took a touch on a 79th minute Hourhihane cross before hitting a shot that Carson blocked near the far post. A step up on his recent performances. Tammy Abraham – 8 – Hit his 21st goal of the season to end a barren run of three games without a goal. Whelan found Elmo on the right on 37 minutes and Tammy stretched to prod home his cross at the far post for our second. Claimed an assist for our third, when he won a high ball and ran on towards the box before playing the ball to Hourihane to score our third. Hit a 76th minute shot from the edge of the box, having been found by Grealish which forced a good save from Carson. Great to see him nodding his head in reaction to this encouraging win on the final whistle. Substitutes: Neil Taylor – 6 – Came on for the unluckily injured Elphick on 67 minutes. Fitted in well enough, enabling Hause to move into the middle of the defence. Tom Carroll - 6 – Replaced Jack on 71 minutes and got some more first team minutes behind him during what was a less than pressured finish to the game. Andre Green - Came on for El Ghazi on 80 minutes. Andre was not on long enough to gather a rating. Up the Villa! John Lewis

Jack’s back and so were the Villa yesterday! Alan Durban, Kevin Hector, Roy McFarland, Alan Hinton, Archie Gemmill, Roger Davies and Francis Lee. Your boys took one hell of a beating! Captain Jack invigorated the team on his return and led by example. We have not looked nearly as good as we did yesterday, in the 13 league games that we have played without him, since injury deprived us of our talisman. One player does not make a team, but one player can help a team to play like one! Three first half goals won it for us at Pride Park in November and four first half goals won it for us at Villa Park yesterday. We have scored 7 goals against Frank Lampard’s Derby and have kept two clean sheets against them this season. If we could play them every week, then promotion might still not be quite beyond us! Villa rather than our visitors looked the serious promotion contenders yesterday. If only Jack had been able to come back a month earlier, we might have made a late run for the play offs. As it is, we are 6 points behind sixth place Bristol City. That gap could be pegged back to three points as they still have to visit Villa Park, but they do have a game in hand. Derby also have a run of 4 successive home games to follow this defeat, which still leaves them 3 points ahead of us. A more realistic and achievable target is therefore making it another double on Sunday! Our visitors were not at their best yesterday, but they seldom are at this stage of the season, are they? The scintillating first half performance that we produced yesterday, would have blown away any championship team though. We eased through the second half with the game already won but lost another central defender through injury during it. Tommy Elphick can now be added to Axel and Chester, on the treatment table, on the day that we got our Jack back. Could Chester be fit for selection by Sunday, I wonder? My player ratings from a game that left us remembering how good it feels to see a Villa home win and how hard it can prove to stop smirking after a victory such as this, are: Jed Steer – 6 – Had a quiet afternoon but his presence may be giving some much-needed confidence to the defenders who are in front of him. Ahmed Elmohamady – 7 – He retains the ball. Sometimes he plays the ball back behind him to do so but he doesn’t give the ball away too often. He does what it says on the tin and did so yesterday very well. He got an assist with a well-placed cross for our second. A good solid overall performance from Elmo. Tommy Elphick - 7 – Solid again alongside Tyrone before he was stretchered off on 67 minutes. He was unfortunately on crutches after the game. Appeared to catch his foot on the turf when moving towards a pass from Mings. This was cruel luck for Tommy, who has been twice the player he was before his loan spell, since returning to the club from Hull. Tyrone Mings – 8 – He looks increasingly composed and comfortable with each game. Headed an El Ghazi cross wide of the far post on 57 minutes. We must pull out all the stops to try to keep him at Villa Park next season! Kortney Hause – 7 – He wins plenty of ball in the air, doesn’t he? He understandably tends to drift towards the middle of the defence, which leaves room on his flank. Looked solid yesterday and played some nice balls out of defence. Looked comfortable when switched into the centre of our defence following Tommy’s substitution. Glenn Whelan – 8 – Glenn turned back the years yesterday and produced a very good solid all round midfield performance. He also hit the corner that Jack volleyed home to make it four before the half time whistle. Albert Adomah – 7 – Albert was involved, keen and made a positive impression during this game. Hit a shot over the bar from inside of the box on 20 minutes. Conor Hourihane – 8 – Back to his best yesterday at long last. Conor popped up here, there and everywhere. Grealish played a nice ball forward to El Ghazi whose cross was hit wide of the far post by Conor on 5 minutes. Four minutes later, Jack floated a superb ball for Abraham to run onto. Tammy’s attempt on goal was blocked by Carson, only for the ball to run onto Conor, who turned home our first. He then swept home our third and his second on 44 minutes, placing the ball past Carson from the edge of the box with some aplomb. Jack Grealish – 9 – MOTM – So much for needing a couple of games after a lengthy injury break to get back to his best! Jack was simply tremendous on his long-awaited return to the first team. He hit a magnificent, unstoppable volley from the edge of the box to give us our fourth goal in the 2nd minute of first half stoppage time from Whelan’s corner. He then hit a 55th minute shot from the edge of the box that Carson pushed away for a corner. He teased and worried Derby until leaving the field to a standing ovation on 71 minutes. Hopefully he will get a little more protection from match officials following his return from injury, although it only took 17 minutes for him to receive a first clumsy challenge that went unpunished yesterday. Anwar El Ghazi – 7 – Good to see him tracking back a couple of times and he did well when doing so. Made a strong run before hitting a cross that Tomori blocked a minute into first half stoppage time. The ball then cannoned off Wisdom into the side netting and we scored from the resulting corner. Took a touch on a 79th minute Hourhihane cross before hitting a shot that Carson blocked near the far post. A step up on his recent performances. Tammy Abraham – 8 – Hit his 21st goal of the season to end a barren run of three games without a goal. Whelan found Elmo on the right on 37 minutes and Tammy stretched to prod home his cross at the far post for our second. Claimed an assist for our third, when he won a high ball and ran on towards the box before playing the ball to Hourihane to score our third. Hit a 76th minute shot from the edge of the box, having been found by Grealish which forced a good save from Carson. Great to see him nodding his head in reaction to this encouraging win on the final whistle. Substitutes: Neil Taylor – 6 – Came on for the unluckily injured Elphick on 67 minutes. Fitted in well enough, enabling Hause to move into the middle of the defence. Tom Carroll - 6 – Replaced Jack on 71 minutes and got some more first team minutes behind him during what was a less than pressured finish to the game. Andre Green - Came on for El Ghazi on 80 minutes. Andre was not on long enough to gather a rating. Up the Villa! John Lewis

They sure do a lot of tests in hospital don't they? They do pay off though, as your case demonstrates so well. Their tests enabled preventative action to be undertaken to address your future risk of having a stroke, when you had been admitted for something else. In my case, the tests done after my stroke proved to all be ok, so I guess we could both be considered fortunate. Looking around the ward at those that survived their strokes, I know I have been lucky to come out of it with just my left leg slowing my walking down a year later. Don't hesitate folks, if you ever notice anything unusual be sure to get it checked out!

I would start with the following, who would represent a decent Five-a-side team: Kalinic, Guilbert, Chester, Jack and McGinn. I hope we can hold onto the last two above and sign Mings and possibly Hause permanently. I would also try to get Axel and Tammy for another season and use Green, Davis, Hepburn-Murphy, Sarkic, Clark, Doyle-Hayes and O'Hare regularly. Looks like Dean will have an awful lot of transfer work to do and I hope we will be able to dance around FFP so that he has the cash he will need to do it.