VillaFaninLondon

Of course no PL game is easy, but our fixture list does look alright up to Xmas. Arsenal and Wolves away will be tough games and there's a couple of other potential banana skins, but I don't see why we can't take around 20 points from those 10 games up to Boxing Day. That would see us close to safety after only 14 league games. The games look tougher in the second half of the season but if we can build momentum anything can happen. Even after our incredible start I'll still just be happy with a top half finish. Having said that, I don't think European qualification is out of our reach if the first 11 stays fit. I'll be very intrigued to see where we are in 10 games time.

Amazing. Just how far can this team go this season?

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

Subs coming 10-20 mins too late for my liking.

Love Jack but he can be very selfish at times.

Can see there being 1 goal in this. Hopefully in our favour. Cagey game so far.

Our captain will be fired up for this after the England snub me thinks!

Overall we had a very good window. Cash and Watkins looked like being overpriced at first glance, but having seen them play actually look like being great additions and have seemingly stepped up with ease. Barkley and Martinez were excellent signings. Traore is perhaps the only question mark (I would certainly have preferred Rashica) but has shown at Lyon he is very capable and has pace to burn. If we can get him back to the form of 1-2 seasons ago it will be a very good signing. I would have liked to see 1 more but I think we will have our eye on someone in January. I hope we can tie up Barkley permanently before the season ends. Retaining him and Luiz next summer will be huge going forward. With Heaton and Wesley to come back we look like having a good squad. I would like to see us bring in better competition in defence at CB so that Konsa and Mings are well covered and sign a potential starting LB as long term I don't think Targett is enough. But generally now we can start looking to add 1 or 2 real quality players each season to try to push on rather than a hatful of signings.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/oct/17/leicester-aston-villa-match-preview-premier-league If that's Leicester defence tomorrow I can't see us not scoring at least once. Morgan must be claiming his pension by now!

Wow, a long injury list for Leicester then! No Ndidi either which is a big loss. After the hammerings you dished out to us last season it would be nice karma for us to return the favour. More than likely it will be tight though even with your injuries.

Bring on Calvert lewin at left wing (he’s a striker) and play walker at left back (he’s a right back). Yet can’t play jack as an 8 apparently. He’s an absolute hypocrite.

Southgate really is an effing prick.

As far as I'm aware: Schmeichel (Denmark) Soyuncu, Under (Turkey) Evans (N Ireland) Castagne, Tielemans, Praet (Belgium) Barnes (England) Iheanacho (Nigeria) So that's 9 players, of which 6 (I think) will definitely start against us. We have eight senior internationals on duty I believe, 5 will definitely start against Leicester. So not too much difference but we're a bit more fortunate in that players like Barkley and Trez didn't get called up on this occasion (in Trez's case I'm not sure why but I think Egypt aren't playing in October).

Still think it's Arnold's to lose given he's only just turned 22 and his attacking play and technical ability are ridiculously good, even if his defending isn't all that.

I remember Piszczek was very good. Don't know much about the other two. Sampdoria are a pretty average team in Italy, didn't have the best of seasons last year. I agree that if Cash doesn't speak the language it could be difficult (might be worth him learning it), but if he keeps up his good start and we have a good season I imagine he would have a chance. Sure Poland would come calling if that were to be the case.

Think that might be in his best interests to be fair. Don't know too much about Polish RBs but think he'd have a good chance of getting into the squad at least. With England he's competing with Trippier, Walker, Alex Arnold, James, Wan Bissaka and now Lamptey who's getting a lot of hype. Gonna be real tough getting a look in with England.

It would be great and shows how far we have come. Personally think Emi should be aiming for lots and lots of caps over the next 5-10 years, Argentina not exactly got a solid no 1 at present.

I think he's the most naturally gifted player I've seen at Villa. Growing up I remember Paul Merson and Dwight Yorke were my heroes, both were gifted footballers, but I think he probably surpasses them. His application is also unbelievable, he trains ridiculously hard. No doubt he'll improve further in the next few years. Personally I echo what people like Joe Cole have said about him before, in that he had the talent to be performing like this at 21/22 and should have been in the England team years ago. He's 25 now, but at age 18/19 it was clear as daylight he was a natural. Villa's demise as a club certainly didn't help him but he showed great loyalty to the club to be fair and hopefully in the coming years we'll build a team to complement his talents.

The commentary is rather amusing though.

Yes sorry you're right. A new contract wouldn't remove the clause per se, but I think the reason for drawing a new one up was so that the clause could either be negotiated or scrapped. I don't know if anything exists to pay City off and presumably they would have to agree to it too.

The buyback clause is a real pain because Doug has become a key player for us and his value is increasing rapidly. I'm pleased that he's now starting games for Brazil, he was overjoyed to get into the squad and it really means a lot to him to pay for his country. There was talk that he was going to sign a new contract with us and the buyback clause would be scrapped. I hope that we can get to that stage and also get Barkley signed permanently, then our midfield is sorted for years to come. If he goes back to City, as far as I can see, he's competing with Rodri for a place. They spent £60m on Rodri. I would anticipate they will likely pick him over Doug. If he stays here, he can cement that place as his own for the next few years in a team that is on the way up.

Highlights of Brazil game:

To be fair most of the Argentine fans who commented on the game were baffled by the decision not to play Emi as well.

Very odd. Looked Armani up and he's never played outside Argentina. Yet Emi is now playing and performing in the PL at a very high level and doesn't get in the team. Hopefully he gets in for their next game as he absolutely deserves it. Probably one of the best GKs in the Prem at the moment.

Great to see him start and sure he’ll shine tonight. Mings should be starting too looking at those 3 CBs - not quite sure what Southgate sees in Keane.