JoshVilla

I don't think any team has nothing to play for, as everyone will be wanting to finish as high in the table as possible, regardless of whether they're fighting relegation or not. Man City, Tottenham and Arsenal aren't gonna go easy on Wigan and the teams in mid table such as Swansea and West Ham are only going to want to push themselves further away from the drop (especially West Ham, 4 points away from us, could easily be dropped back into the mix), Wigan still have a tough run in. We just need to take the chances we have properly.

QPR need to win 3 and draw 1 just to catch us up, and that would be assuming that we don't pick up any more points from any of our last 5 games. QPR and Reading are finished now. I like the idea of it being a cluster of 5 or 6 that we just need to not finish at the bottom of; it makes things seem a lot more do-able. 6 points from 5 games, 4 of those winnable (Yep, I still think Chelsea is winnable), I think (hope!) we'll manage

 

From Garth Crook's Team of the Week on BBC:

 

"Charles has not been the first name on Paul Lambert's team sheet this season but in the last few games he certainly started to look like the player Aston Villa invested in. His goal was a beauty. Collected with the right foot and beautifully dispatched with the left. With N'Zogbia, Christian Benteke, Andreas Weimann and Gabby Agbonlahor, Villa will stay up"

 

I'll take that last bit

Leaving aside the fact that Garth Crooks is a complete fruitbat, yes I'll take it too!

 

Nice to see something on the BBC that isn't "Villa are completely f*cked" though

From Garth Crook's Team of the Week on BBC:

"Charles has not been the first name on Paul Lambert's team sheet this season but in the last few games he certainly started to look like the player Aston Villa invested in. His goal was a beauty. Collected with the right foot and beautifully dispatched with the left. With N'Zogbia, Christian Benteke, Andreas Weimann and Gabby Agbonlahor, Villa will stay up"

I'll take that last bit

They only managed 2 past Stoke, who were absolutely dreadful. We have threats in our squad who are goalscorers, which sets us apart from most of the other teams in this scrap. United are definitely going to withold possession, so really the best we can do is just feed the ball to whoever is upfront (probably the same that it's been the past couple of weeks) as quickly as possible.Outscoring them is our only hope, because we'll most likely get completely battered defensively.It's possible that we could steal something from this if the squad are fired up and not expecting to get turned over straight away. The likelihood is that we'll lose, but I wouldn't be hugely surprised if we didn't.

Every time I watch Chelsea they look less and less threatening. Watch them all of a sudden play world class when they come to VP

Whether he's on the score sheet or not, his pace makes him a genuine threat, and gives the opposition something more to think about. He was really missed yesterday, and I really think we'll need him if we're to stand a chance at getting something from United

Stoke 0-2 Man U

Come on United, tear Sunderland a new a hole! (Don't look too terrifying though, we want to have at least a tiny morsel of a chance a week tomorrow )

What's Newcastle run in like

They look dog s

West Brom (a), Liverpool (h), West Ham (a), QPR (a), Arsenal (h), quite a few winnables there

We must really hate clean sheets, if they don't score, we'll do it for them! Joking aside though, I really did feel sorry for Delph, he looked really lively and had an alright game before that point, I was so certain we were grabbing 3 points. But, as Lambert said, a point still keeps the momentum going, and we did a decent job at stopping the Berbatov show, considering how shaky our defenders became in his presence.

Baker had a great game today. He's really turning into a top player, putting his body on the line for the team, getting crucial blocks in. He's beginning to look up there as one of the players that could potentially save our season if he continues to improve the way he is.

Gabby's presence would have really helped today. Overall, I think we still had a good game, we just need to stop giving the amount of space that we do. Also, it looked like the defence were shitting themselves as much as us when Berbatov was anywhere near the ball. A point is better than nothing, but I really did expect a win. We're still capable of staying up, just that a win would have made a much less nail-biting last 5 games. Bring on Man U.........  :\

Last match I'll be seeing at Villa Park for a while as I'm back at Uni on Sunday. Please Villa, make it a good one!

I still think we'll hang on, we have 4 winnable games left with a possible 12 points for us to pick up. To be honest, I'm secretly confident that we can pick up something from the Chelsea game. It's in the team's best interest to give them something to think about after they battered us last time, and I think the atmosphere at Villa Park is gonna be buzzing. They've been absolutely dreadful lately against our rivals. They don't look threatening in the least, and I think have actually been lucky to be winning the games that they have been (although, I imagine that they'll stop this crap run by the time they play us). We've definitely improved lately, and unlike most of the teams in the bottom half of the table, we have genuine threats in the team with Benteke in great form, Weimann giving it everything and now Gabby starting to find the net again as well. We can do this, and if we stay up, I hope to god that we build on what we've begun to create, get some more strength in our defence and start finishing in the upper half of the table, where Villa belongs! UTV!

Normally, when another team equalizes, I always fear the game is finished for us. Not only did I love Lowton's incredible goal, but I love how it didn't stop there. Rather than kicking back, trying to just keep hold of a 1 goal lead, we pressed on and hammered home another. This is so much better to see, giving everything until the final whistle. I feel confident, and if we continue playing for the entire game, like we did today, we can easily grab another 2 wins, possibly more and even finish at a decent place in the table!

Massive victory. Those last 10 minutes were an absolute killer! Lowton is probably the most deserving MOTM candidate there has ever been.

We kept a clean sheet last time, and I'd like to think that we've improved defensively since then (even if it's just slightly, especially from set pieces), and Benteke is definitely in form.

I'm just as concerned with having one of our key players injured as I am with losing this one. Stoke are gonna throw themselves at this, especially with them being dragged into the relegation scrap, they'll be nervy and edgy, and prone to making stupid decisions (for us)

If we play like we did for the majority of the first half against Liverpool, we can easily squeeze a win out of this. It's gonna need us to just feed Benteke the ball as early and often as possible. He could score every single goal until the end of the season for all I care, as long as it means us winning some games.

Massive result for us. It's a shame to be so reliant on other teams' results, but this is hugely helpful.

Can see Fulham making it 4, they look too lively to let QPR get another in

This is torture. QPR losing is obviously what I'd like, but at the same time, I don't want Fulham to look too threatening, as I still want to feel that our game against them is winnable.

Brilliant stuff! There's some real talent in there. Chelsea didn't really look threatening and we completely owned that 2nd half. Something to be happy about!

All of the spark and fight that we had in the first half completely vanished in the second, which baffles me considering the buzz surrounding this match. Crowd fell silent, consistently pushed into our half and silly free kicks given. I'm hating these headlines though. From the BBC: "Aston Villa were left in deep relegation trouble after Liverpool fought back from a goal down to seal victory at Villa Park". Deep in relegation trouble? We're 1 point behind Sunderland FFS, and only below Wigan on goal difference, with some helpful fixtures coming up. I still think we'll manage.