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Sounds like the only change is whether or not Gestede comes in from what Tim's saying on Sky. He didn't give anything away, but smiled when talking about Gestede. I get the feeling he may start

Good odds but probably because he only scored 4 in 1 last season Great ratio that. Better than CB! Haha, typo, I mean 4 in Ligue 1

Good odds but probably because he only scored 4 in Ligue 1 last season

Effectively a day off work on VT at 3pm. Only difference is no pint in hand, yet...

Traore to be paraded on the pitch prior to kick off, just to amp up the atmosphere a notch higher?!

Well that's my shirt from last season redundant... Good luck Andi. All the best. Always thought you were a good player, scored us some vital important goals, hope to see you find that again at Derby!

My eyes immediately go first day, last day, boxing day then any other unfortunate runs of games

Deserved a call up just about for me. I'd have him instead of Townsend, Lallana or Mason.

Fair play Scott, good move. Welcome!

I watched Villa's opening game of last season (13/14) against Arsenal in Singapore (3-1 to Villa). I tried to find some sort of Villa community but no luck in the end although I'm sure there must be a few Villa fans on the island given the amount of ex pats and I imagine a sprinkling of local converts. All the bars along the water front at Boat Quay (round the corner from Clark Quay) show premier league and more than likely will show the FA cup final. Suspect there will be a lot more Arsenal fans than Villa (just the way football is overseas in general) but thats all the more fun when we're beating them. The only thing I would wonder about is the kick off time? Could be pretty late locally? The bars there are open till 3am+ in any case.

That misses the point, again, I think. With so few tickets, there will always be more people who can't go. The line/criteria depends on movable things. Plenty of Arsenal season ticket holders won't be able to go, for example. The point that the allocations are too low, is an FA thing, and the FA's decisions penalise match day fans at the expense of FA folk and guests etc. Many fans may have just one chance of ever seeing their team at Wembley in the FA cup final. Then the FA give loads of tickets to the same people every year. Yes it's been like that for ages. Yes it's wrong. Yes the Fans organisations and individuals complain. and No nothing changes. Out of interest and not to change the subject but how are Arsenal deciding allocation? ST holders plus FA Cup games attended? Or away games too? Or years as a ST holder?

Bloody hell, didn't notice it quite so much in person at VP but Song was really going after Grealish on Saturday. Suspect fat Sam brought him on with exactly that intention. Didn't have much impact mind!

I've not been in this thread for a while as I presumed we would have sold out the allocation ages back. What's going on?!

One seat in B5 this morning.

They're trying to avoid the Europa seemingly, so for me we'll win by a goal

Took an absolute grilling from Pat Murphy, like a father telling off a son. Suspect he'll think twice about what he says in future which I'm not convinced is entirely a good thing but there you go

Being relatively young (23 - although not for the football world!), it just seems insane that this story is getting coverage. There was barely a person in my group of friends at university who hadn't had a balloon or two. A balloon was the least of your worries to be honest. I can't believe this nickname 'hippy crack' either, as if the media are trying to make some form of link between gas and crack cocaine! I'd be more concerned if Jack had been photographed smoking a cigarette as I think that links to a much wider image and persona issue that's likely to reoccur (cough cough, Jack Wilshere). Given the implications of a balloon filled with gas and the fact it was a year ago when he was barely on the radar and wouldn't have been thinking about his image, this is entirely unfair and a non issue and I sincerely hope nobody makes it into an issue. All the same, it's a good wake up call for him. He's in the spot light now and non issues to 95% of society become issues unfortunately. Keep your head down mate, work hard and enjoy the simple and finer things, but just not the things which the daily mail would gawk at...

Dam, and i only have us down to finish on 36.4 Haha, Championship it is then... The 36.6 figure just came from Sky Sports. No idea how they worked it out. I guess the point is that they think there's a slightly higher chance you'll need 37 than 36 to stay up. I didn't even think it would be above 32 a few weeks ago but a couple of teams have sorted themselves out of late

36.6 is being suggested as safe so Newcastle aren't quite there. They need a couple of draws but haven't scored a point since they beat us on February 28th

I don't think Newcastle are completely safe. The bottom three are all playing better than them, in spite of points difference

I wonder if we can revive our habit of getting fired up for the big teams and nick it...

Will be a shame if we don't get more in than the seat plan currently suggests, a missed opportunity you would think

Makes me feel goooood! Let's make it an unconquerable fortress and do the double this weekend! My mates that are baggies fans left Villa Park with a pretty sour taste last season too. One didn't make it into the away end till 10mins in so missed their first 2 goals, then watched as we scored 3 in a row and went on to win 4-3. The same guy was there last night, got a snapchat of head in palm shortly after the game. Don't think he would go back any time soon if we win on Saturday and dump them out the cup haha

That's fine, I believe it's literally any history of booking tickets for home games that aren't against WBA

Hoping Vlaar might be available. I'd be tempted to start with 3 at the back (bringing in Vlaar), Lowton and Bacuna on the wings. Suspect they will come at us more than they did this evening.