TRO Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 we can win this as easily as we can lose it. we have the capability, if the match winning players turn up.... big game for gabby IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
World_Domination Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 Why gabby? It's a big game for any of our players that want to play in the champions league...and if we win I doubt we will be done easily.. Gabby has proved his worth with the manu goal. If he can develop into playing the big man role with a fonz type player with him, that would be amazing but can't see it this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiddybloke Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 Why gabby? It's a big game for any of our players that want to play in the champions league...and if we win I doubt we will be done easily.. Gabby has proved his worth with the manu goal. If he can develop into playing the big man role with a fonz type player with him, that would be amazing but can't see it this season. the arsenal fans hate gabby cause he always does well against them. More of the same please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David-Copenhagen Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 Gabby is a big game player - he almost always delivers in big games. And thank-you for that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDon Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 Win tomorrow and we'll go 2nd... for at least 2 hours. I have faith that we can do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overdubber Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 A couple of pages back somebody mentioned the prospects of Delph getting into the starting line-up. I`d like to second that, only if it is for him to be glued to Nasri all afternoon........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted December 27, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted December 27, 2009 Arsenal - Aston Villa is not any ordinary football match: it is a classic. This is a fixture that has great history and a proud tradition behind it from Edwardian England to the computer age. There have been 160 league meetings - all of them, of course, in the top tier of English football - and 12 in the FA Cup. In those league games, Arsenal have edged ahead with 64 wins to Villa's 59, but after 105 years, it is hardly much to shout about. More than anything, these are two of the greatest clubs in England, institutions with great reputations, winners of championships and cups, in England and Europe, that have created a tapestry of great football matches. And several of them have been festive occasions, games played over Christmas - very often on Boxing Day - that have stuck in the memory. The fact that the two clubs are now sitting third and fourth in the Premier League, separated only by goal difference, merely adds to the savour and the competitive edge. But it has nearly always been that way. Indeed, in the first season that Arsenal and Villa met in league competition, in 1904/05, the first game was played at the 'Manor Ground' on October 8. Woolwich Arsenal, as they then were, ran out winners by the only goal, a signature result that was full of foreboding. Two months later, the return in Birmingham, at Villa Park, was played on Boxing Day and ended with the home team triumphing 3-1. It was the first of many such Yuletide specials. The most famous of these was the one played at Villa Park almost 31 years later, on December 14, 1935, when that phenomenal goal machine Ted Drake scored all seven goals in a 7-1 victory for the rampant Gunners that afternoon. The high scoring was not untypical of the times. Goals flowed in the 1930's in this fixture (in 193/31, Arsenal won 5-2 at home and then lost 5-1 away, while in 1932/33, Villa won 5-3 at home and then lost 5-0 at Highbury). After a 3-0 defeat at Villa Park on Boxing Day, 1957, there were few more Arsenal - Villa Christmas specials until more modern days. Villa won 1-0 at home on December 28, 1992, but the Boxing Day clash in 1994 was a goalless stalemate; and a sign of the more defensive times. The results of the last decade or more point to Villa's steady revival under the astute management of Martin O'Neill, who took over in August 2006. On April Fools' Day, just a few months earlier in the previous season, Arsenal had beaten a Villa team managed by David O'Leary 5-0, the teams having drawn 0-0 at Villa Park on New Year's Eve. It was a damaging result for O'Leary, but a warning and a marker to O'Neill who, in his three successive visits to Arsenal since, has led Aston Villa to two draws and a victory (2-0 last season). This means that Villa are unbeaten at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League - a brief run of resilience that followed eight seasons of emphatic defeats at Highbury - and will arrive at Ashburton Grove on Sunday hoping to extend that record. Last season, on Boxing Day, the teams drew 2-2 at Villa Park. So what does all of this tell us? More than anything it stirs respect for both clubs' achievements, their longevity at the highest level and their well-established individual way of doing things. Just as there is an Arsenal way, so too there is an Aston Villa way. It is another reason, too, why Frank McLintock is a special guest at the game as he celebrates his 70th birthday. The Scot, who led Arsenal to the league and cup double in 1971, is a great traditionalist with huge respect for the game's history - and a lover of the modern Arsenal style of play under Arsene Wenger. He will relish the history of the fixture against Aston Villa as much as its modern competitive value and the prospect of seeing two of the most entertaining and enterprising teams in the country locking horns again for the 178th time overall. Yes, it is about three points on the day and the tussle for the English league title, but sometimes it is about more than just that: it is a part of the fabric of football history and therefore an occasion to enjoy with the same seasonal delight as Christmas. Don't know the ultimate source, but I picked it up from Goonersweb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reykjavik Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 They haven't really got much to lose. They're on great form but they know they're not favourites...that's what worries me. Yes, I'm genuinely worried we won't win 7-0. But we'll probably win by 3 or 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reykjavik Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Arsenal match presents Martin O'Neill with sternest test as Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill is an indisputably talented manager but, as he peers into 2010, he knows he faces the sternest test of his time in charge of Aston Villa. .... I totally agree. If we get a decent result (good game + min. one point) we can be at top four. This is an important game, and is the key to our future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 I hope they dont pass us off the park and make us look silly, they have done that more times than i can remember. Was it an Xmas game at VP where Cole scored and they destroyed us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted December 27, 2009 Moderator Share Posted December 27, 2009 Just read that we've a number of key players one booking away from a one match ban including Ashley Young and Gabby, fingers crossed they don't pick one up and miss the L'pool game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onmeedson Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Good luck to the lads today, consistency i8s what i8t i8s all about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Bit of a Villafest in the Observer today Here Martin O'Neill faces up to the cost of Aston Villa's league success Martin O'Neill has a dilemma. For the first time since he took over as Aston Villa manager, he has the strength in depth in his squad to maintain a challenge for a top-four place. It is a position that the Northern Irishman has longed to be in, but one that he has yet to take advantage of this season and, while he recognises that will have to change soon, he also knows that players like James Milner do not want to be sitting in the stand. If it ain't broke don't fix it, is the Villa manager's mantra, although the next 14 days might change that approach. Villa play five matches during that period, including two pivotal games in the space of 48 hours, starting with a trip to Arsenal today followed by Liverpool's visit to the Midlands on Tuesday. After that there is an FA Cup tie at home to Blackburn to negotiate, a Carling Cup semi-final first leg against the same opponents and a visit to Wigan in the Premier League. Until now, the team has picked itself. Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Young and Brad Friedel have started every league match, while Milner, Carlos Cuéllar and Stilian Petrov have missed only one. Richard Dunne and Stephen Warnock have been first-choices since joining in late August and Stewart Downing and Luke Young have been permanent fixtures after returning from injury, leaving O'Neill with just one decision: John Carew or Emile Heskey. That, however, will have to change. "There is definitely a feeling it's a squad system now," says O'Neill, whose substitute bench against Stoke last weekend included Fabian Delph, James Collins, Nigel Reo-Coker, Steve Sidwell, Habib Beye and Carew. "I remember going to watch Manchester United at Wigan and the quality they had sat two rows down from me watching the game was frightening. They've earned the right to do that. We've not reached that stage but I do accept we're gathering a bit of a momentum and that the rotation policy will have to come into play at some stage. It's when you actually decide to go and do that." After the victory against Stoke, O'Neill said that Milner would be "apoplectic" if he told the midfielder he was leaving him out. Yet the 23-year-old is arguably one of those most 'in need of a breather. He played 46 club matches last season, represented England Under-21s in Sweden in the summer, has been a near-permanent fixture in the Villa side during this campaign and, perhaps tellingly, is the only player to have featured in all six of the senior international team's fixtures this season. Yet this is O'Neill's conundrum: how do you rest a player whose energy and enthusiasm for football is boundless and whose form has been so outstanding that he has gone from being on the periphery of Fabio Capello's squad at the start of the season to now being a nailed-on member of the 23-man party for South Africa? "I've got a group of players who want to go for it and who, probably at this minute, wouldn't want to be rotated," Villa's manager admits. Five straight wins during December have made it even more difficult for O'Neill to tinker. Three of those victories came in an eight-day period, including an eye-catching triumph at Old Trafford, although it was the 1-0 win over Stoke that gave O'Neill greatest satisfaction. It was the first time that he detected signs Villa were capable of showing the trait he has long associated with the top clubs: playing badly and winning. "It had been a tough week," the Villa manager says. "We had gone to Old Trafford and won – a great win and now expectations rise. If we had been beaten at Sunderland, people would have said, 'You're unable to maintain it'. But we won again. I went with the same side again against Stoke. I knew our energy would be down a bit and that Stoke, having not played in midweek, would be strong, but we withstood it. "There was a bit of last-ditch defending and we didn't create many chances but we took one of them [when Carew came on and scored]. Last year we probably wouldn't have been strong enough to come through. I think that's where we've gained a little bit of mental strength. Whether we can sustain that is in the lap of the gods. But whether we win or lose these games against Arsenal and Liverpool, I think we're at least trying to compete." Herer Premier League half-term report: Fans' verdict Aston Villa, 4th, Jonathan Pritchard, Observer reader Something has really clicked. Reintroducing a fired-up Heskey, getting Downing fit and moving Milner into a central role have galvanised us. This new attacking potency, on top of an already very solid back four, has made it easy to dream of a top-four finish. We've a much stronger squad than last year and there's no European distraction. Someone put me in a darkened room: I'm almost bullish. Star man and biggest underperformer? Milner, Gabby, Dunne, Cuellar … I could go on. Sidwell is the only disappointment. Happy with the gaffer? The way he sends out his teams ready to die for the club makes him a Holte End darling right now. Who should he sign? We desperately need cover for Agbonlahor: a cheeky bid for a disaffected Bellamy might work? Latest links: "I don't see us signing anyone unless somebody leaves," says Martin O'Neill . And here... Aston Villa good enough to take advantage of Big Four slip-ups With the old Big Four struggling, watch out for Martin O'Neill's side even if the established quartet have rallied in the past The story of the Premier League season at the halfway stage is one of top-four standards slipping, in some cases quite badly, while for once the chasing teams look determined and capable enough to make a breakthrough. That would be a welcome development, in the context of the anti-competitive cartel the Champions League has produced at the top of the table, though the story of many a second half of the season before now has been the same top four surviving after all. It is still a little early to get excited even if austerity is bringing everyone closer together. As a measure of how incident-packed and overexcitable the season has already been, try thinking of a single image to sum up a hectic five months. Would it be Arsène Wenger getting sent off at Old Trafford for kicking a water bottle in frustration back in August, then standing with arms outstretched among the season-ticket holders because he didn't know where he was supposed to go? Or would it be Emmanuel Adebayor's knee slide in front of Arsenal fans at Manchester City a week later? Perhaps Michael Owen coming on to clinch the Manchester derby a week after that, or Fergie accusing Alan Wiley of booking players just to catch his breath. Tales of the unexpected? How about the beach ball goal at Sunderland, Spurs' 9-1 demolition of Wigan, or Maynor Figueroa's stunning goal at Stoke. Mick McCarthy's total rotation at Manchester United did not exactly make for a rousing evening or an edifying spectacle, yet it was the sort of talking point that will be remembered for years and could yet lead to a Premier League policy change. While it may be unfair that there is one rule for top clubs and another for those at the bottom, the harsh fact is that the Premier League has never been a level playing field and surrender is not an option in front of 73,000 paying spectators. Birmingham and Burnley have been working hard to dig themselves in at the top level through more conventional means, the former exceeding everyone's expectations in a remarkable climb up the table. When Mark Hughes was sacked last week, after all the money he had spent, his argument that agreed targets had been met was somewhat undermined by the fact that Alex McLeish's considerably less swanky City had at that stage won two more league games. The bottom of the table this Christmas resembles debtor's row, with Portsmouth and West Ham operating under severe financial constraints, and clubs with smaller budgets and fanbases such as Bolton, Wigan and Blackburn struggling to make mid‑table. Steve Bruce and Tony Pulis appear to have managed at least that for Sunderland and Stoke respectively, with Everton and Hull showing that while overachievement is possible, it is difficult to do it season after season. At the top end Manchester United have managed to lose five matches already and no longer look nailed-on for a fourth successive title, which will grieve only those who had them as favourites at the start of the season, like me. It must also be conceded that Carlo Ancelotti has done rather better at Chelsea than might have been expected of a newcomer to England, and even though his side appear to be having a mini-blip at the moment they have looked stronger and more effective at their best than United have ever done thus far; the title appears theirs to lose. Just keep an eye on Arsenal and Aston Villa, both handily placed. Villa in particular are playing well and have no European distractions to slow them down this season. Everyone is saying Martin O'Neill's side look a good bet for fourth place this season, yet the way the top four are playing they could do better than that. Much better. Villa are still a long shot for the title, 40-1 in fact, but that's a decent-value punt if you are in touch with the leaders at the halfway stage of a four-horse race. If even Jonathan Pritchard is feeling optimistic, thgings really must be on the move! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gingerlad Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Lets smash em!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 C'mon the Villa! I am about to make my way over to the Emirates. Let's have this one! Arsenal are very beatable, I will still be very happy with a draw though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa84 Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Iv gota very very bad feeling about this game all of a sudden. A very very very very bad feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndFos Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 And I have got a good one. Arsenal fans hate Carew for destroying them in the Champions League several times, Agbonlahor for allways doing good against them and soon they are going to hate us for going above them in the league! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa84 Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Our defence is the most important thing today. If they score early, i think we are gonna be in for a thumping, otherwise a draw. I feel sick lol, i just cant see us doing it. I get the feeling they are gonna come out really fired up and we are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa84 Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 And I have got a good one. Arsenal fans hate Carew for destroying them in the Champions League several times, Agbonlahor for allways doing good against them and soon they are going to hate us for going above them in the league! I think they are about to seriously bring you back down to earth with a very hard bump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maradona10 Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 I've got a bad feeling too, just with positive reports, Chelsea's insistence on keeping the title race open! Think Arsenal will be well fired up for this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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