Fight Like Lions

I do hope the website shows me having the correct privileges in the morning, I'm hoping they will have calculated it properly to include the Southampton and Burnley game. I could go down to VP but would prefer to book online in my PJ's early doors!

His attitude has to be admired. Only a few weeks ago he was the subject of the Birmingham Mail article saying he'd be sold. Performed brilliantly at Wembley and been rock solid since. Westwood looks keen to put the shirt on every week and cement his place. I've always been very critical of his style of play but his sideways passing and the negative style we saw under Lambert has completely changed. He looks more agile, gets his head up and has players showing quicker in front of him for the ball. Anybody know how many of the 51 passes against Everton were his?

The balloons looked good again the lower Holte before kick off, definitely a great atmosphere now at VP. Cleverley very much MOTM for me also, was great work by Grealish for the goal but felt prior to that he'd struggled to get into the game. Suppose we have to accept that other teams will now target him and try to keep him quiet. Delighted to see a clean sheet. West Ham didn't seem to offer much going forward but defended pretty solidly. Looked like they came for a 0-0.

We all know he has a soft spot for Arsenal. Wouldn't surprise me to see them try and offer £20m + Welbeck.

Funny, I dreamt 1-0 with a Benteke goal. Hope it's as comfortable as 3-1, the way Arsenal tore Hull apart in the first 45mins yesterday it's hard to believe it's the same team that laboured against Reading.

Our allocation now sold out. Not been to an away game for years, can't wait for this!

Tim has come out in support of Guzan this week, can't see him dropping him tbh. Must be a different story next week if he has another howler though. Got to keep Lennon quiet today, hope to see Cissokho come back in and perform well. Starting 11 for me: Guzan Hutton Okore Vlaar Cissokho Cleverley Sanchez Delph Sinclair Grealish Benteke A cagey first half ends 0-0, Villa come out all guns blazing 2nd half and win 3-1. Benteke hat trick. Sunday media more interested in Benteke transfer rumours than the Villa performance, his price tag just gone closer to £50m.

I saw that as well- the Scottish cup final and FA cup final are played on the same day. It's also Kozaks birthday on 30th May, it's almost written in the starts for him to come on as 80th min sub and score the winning goal. We have our own birthday boy for the cup final, Stevie who???

Played 90mins tonight with Cissokho so safe to assume he'll be on the bench for Saturday. Good timing to have him back.

Hadn't realised he'd missed yesterdays game until this morning. I didn't think I was superstitious until me and my mate discussed wearing exactly the same clothes to the final (just in case!).

We need a song for this guy....

Surprised to see the papers still full of Sterling being a naughty boy rather than the Gerrard destiny stories this morning. I know the media love to spin a story but will be interesting to see the fall out of this when we beat them tomorrow. Sterling > Scapegoat and the transfer rumours really kick in.

There's 2 ways we win this game: 1. Exploit their defence which doesn't appear consistent in personnel or performance of late. Any combination of Johnson, Can, Skrtel, Moreno, Flanagan, Lovren, Manquillo, Toure, Sakho could and has been used. Rodgers doesn't seem to know the right combination. Sakho is injured and whilst all the Scouse fans seem down on Johnson and Lovren they still get picked. Got to assume Skrtel will walk back in and pick up Benteke, leaves massive gaps for the likes of Grealish, Sinclair and (hopefully) Gabby to exploit. I'd like to see Villa press early on with the confidence we've seen in the last 2 league games. 2. Get the Sanchez replacement right. If Sturridge is out I'd expect Gerrard to start in the role behind Couthino and Sterling. Make his life hard, frustrate him into mistakes and we stop the danger early on. Personally I'd like to see one of best tacklers put in there, even if it means one of the CB's. The possession game we are capable of means their job is simple- win the ball and find the easiest claret and blue shirt. Get Cleverly and Delph looking to support this position quickly and distribute the ball wide. I'd play- -------------Given--------------- Bacuna-----Vlaar-----Baker------Lowton -------------Okore---------------- ---Cleverly------Delph --------------Zog---------- -----Grealish------Benteke If Gabby is fit, swap Zog for Grealish and Gabby partners Benteke (assuming if Sinclair is fit he won't be risked from the start). Think Jack is confident enough to for Wembley not to faze him and it could be his game to shine. I'd love the back pages to be full of praise for him on Monday instead of the money grabbing, hippy crack lover.

Yep, an apt username at the moment. Looking forward to Sunday, hoping to get hold of some balloons. Hope those with me in the upper tier will do the same.

New poster, long time lurker. I'm 31 from Sutton and a life long Villa supporter feeling rejuvenated after the end of the Lambert era and hoping to make more regular visits to VP next season. My 3 games this term to support the quest for survival (all after Sherwoods appointment) was just enough to get my Wembley ticket for the semi final on Sunday and I'm looking forward to cheering on the boys. Let's paint Wembley claret and blue! UTV