Aston Villa v Manchester City (Kick Off: 8pm)

Xavi6

From BBC -

Steve Sidwell could earn a Villa recall, having recovered from the hamstring strain that caused him to miss the defeat at Blackburn.

Luke Young is unlikely to start his season until after the international break as he builds up his fitness.

Emmanuel Adebayor returns from a three-match suspension for Manchester City, having escaped a further ban for his goal celebration against Arsenal.

Fit-again striker Roque Santa Cruz is likely to be among the substitutes.

Adebayor and Ireland return to a squad that beat West Ham last week. Going to be interesting to see who they replace. Petrov would have been most likely to step aside but he was excellent last week. Richards will also be looking to come back in for Zabaleta.

Gareth Barry and Richard Dunne race their former clubs to add a bit of spice to what is always a fixture I look forward to.

Mr Alan

this tonight?!

totally forgot about that.

could be a cracker.

gucci

For fantasy football and financial reasons, i hope that City win with Barry putting in a big show against his former team! Also if Dunne and Collins got sent off and or booked it would help me too!!
Should be a good game anyways, the atmosphere will be interesting regarding Barrys comeback to Villa park.

Xavi6

Mr Alan wrote: »

this tonight?!

Yep, second feckin Monday night game in a row for us :rolleyes:

SlickRic

come on Milner...for FF reasons obviously.

i reckon this will be a 3-2 cracker, with Man City getting the odd goal.

JPA

4-2 Villa and a wake up call about Lescott.

please

death1234567

2-2.

mirwillbeback

Lads, maybe I'm just being grumpy and I like fantasy footie as much as anyone BUT

is it possible for these match threads not to become full of " i hope for a goal from .... and as long as ...... get sent off I'll be happy "

There is a big, long, popular thread dedicated to FF, and I just get fed up reading outlandish wishes that have no relevance to football, only fantasy football.

For me, hope Villa edge this tonight, but either way I expect a cracking game of footie.

KittyeeTrix

Xavi6 wrote: »

Yep, second feckin Monday night game in a row for us :rolleyes:

Love having the monday night slot all to ourselves. Really look forward to the match after a taxing day at college:D
Hope we can get a good result, really looking forward to seeing Ade back on top form, fingers crossed;)

Neil3030

Well as I said on the Villa thread, this game will have plenty of goals. I predict City to come out attacking and leave plenty of gaps on the counter attack for Villa to exploit. Villa will need to play 4-5-1 to clog up the midfield or risk getting torn to shreds by the City attack. I see Collins and Dunne outshining Toure and Lescott, but City should generate a lot of chances up the left flank if Cuellar is at RB. Conversely, Richards/Zabaletta should have a difficult evening ahead of them with Warnock getting forward to bolster Young, with Milner switching over where needed to add a further threat.

2-1 or 3-2 to Villa for me if we play 4-5-1,

3-0 to City if we play 4-4-2 (Especially if it's Petrov/Delph as the central midfield pairing).

Tomthepost

Neil3030 wrote: »

Well as I said on the Villa thread, this game will have plenty of goals. I predict City to come out attacking and leave plenty of gaps on the counter attack for Villa to exploit. Villa will need to play 4-5-1 to clog up the midfield or risk getting torn to shreds by the City attack. I see Collins and Dunne outshining Toure and Lescott, but City should generate a lot of chances up the left flank if Cuellar is at RB. Conversely, Richards/Zabaletta should have a difficult evening ahead of them with Warnock getting forward to bolster Young, with Milner switching over where needed to add a further threat.

2-1 or 3-2 to Villa for me if we play 4-5-1,

3-0 to City if we play 4-4-2 (Especially if it's Petrov/Delph as the central midfield pairing).

Who is upfront in your 4-5-1?
Is the Villa youth team playing the 4-4-2 system?
If Villa go out on the pitch with 9 men they still would not lose this one 3-0. Dunne will be a man on a mission and the rest will want to show a certain chap what he is missing
Besides Villa have the best defensive record in the league

JPA

Tomthepost wrote: »

Who is upfront in your 4-5-1?
Is the Villa youth team playing the 4-4-2 system?
If Villa go out on the pitch with 9 men they still would not lose this one 3-0. Dunne will be a man on a mission and the rest will want to show a certain chap what he is missing
Besides Villa have the best defensive record in the league

This will be the team

---

Friedel

Cuellar-Dunne-collins- Warnock

----Petrov--NRC---Sidwell

Milner

---

Young

---

Gabby

Neil3030

Tomthepost wrote: »

Who is upfront in your 4-5-1?
Is the Villa youth team playing the 4-4-2 system?
If Villa go out on the pitch with 9 men they still would not lose this one 3-0. Dunne will be a man on a mission and the rest will want to show a certain chap what he is missing
Besides Villa have the best defensive record in the league

Gabby up top for me to start off with, no question he's the form striker at VP.

We've played 4-4-2 with Delph/Petrov twice in the league this year and lost 2-0 to Wigan, 2-1 to Blackburn. I think 3-0 to a team with City's attacking options is actually an underestimation.

Tomthepost

Neil3030 wrote: »

Gabby up top for me to start off with, no question he's the form striker at VP.

We've played 4-4-2 with Delph/Petrov twice in the league this year and lost 2-0 to Wigan, 2-1 to Blackburn. I think 3-0 to a team with City's attacking options is actually an underestimation.

It wont happen but there could be merits in going 4-4-2 and dropping Petrov and Delph. Just have Sidwell and NRC spoiling in Midfield. I could see Big John causing havoc against that Citeh back 4.

Neil3030

Tomthepost wrote: »

It wont happen but there could be merits in going 4-4-2 and dropping Petrov and Delph. Just have Sidwell and NRC spoiling in Midfield. I could see Big John causing havoc against that Citeh back 4.

You're right, it won't happen. Petrov will never be dropped. But I agree with you, that is the central pairing I'd be most comfortable with in a 4-4-2, particularly if Sidwell was given license to get forward more than NRC.

I still wait for the day we play Delph in the 5 man midfield though, I really think our most versatile selection in that regard (in terms of both attacking and defending) is Petrov and Delph with either NRC or Sidwell making up the trio.

Gone Drinking

3 - 2 City is my prediction.. would love to see them drop points though.

Aidric

Villa to go one down and come back and win 2-1.

Neil3030

Aidric wrote: »

Villa to go one down and come back and win 2-1.

Dunne?

Gillington

elgriff wrote: »

Ireland up to his old tricks

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/05102009/36/wag-gets-pound-260-000-birthday-bentley-0.html

Holy c**p :eek: what a waste of money!

He's probably my favourite player at City but man he's weird.

What channel is the game on the telebox?

Neil3030

Gillington wrote: »

Holy c**p :eek: what a waste of money!

He's probably my favourite player at City but man he's weird.

What channel is the game on the telebox?

ESPN

Raskolnikov

Unless Agbonlahor and Young perform tonight, this is an easy win for City.

JPA

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Unless Agbonlahor and Young perform tonight, this is an easy win for City.

I'd be very surprised.

bigstar

ha we dont do easy wins, especially away.

cant call this one. villa are good defensively, we're good attacking. is bellamy playing, heard hes gonna be rested every few games, but hes really on form so far. i dont know, ade to score a hatrick, barry and dunne to get sent off and it finishes 3-3? we have a decent record there though so fingers crossed.

JPA

VILLA: Friedel; Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Warnock; Milner, Sidwell, Petrov, Young, Carew, Agbonlahor. Subs: Delph, Heskey, Reo-Coker, Shorey, Guzan, Beye, Gardner.



We will lose with that team, play a 4-5-1 and we would win. :mad:

JPA

City drop Petrov for Adebayor.

Raskolnikov

Given
Zabaleta
Toure
Lescott
Bridge
De Jong
Barry
SWP
Tevez
Bellamy
Adebayor

No Ireland.

OPENROAD

Just watching the behind the scenes look at Viila Park on ESPN, some nice faiclities I have to say. Have a feeling Villa will get a result tonight.

RasTa

Ade anytime @ 8/5 is a decent bet.

Xavi6

fluffyorganic1 wrote: »

Love having the monday night slot all to ourselves. Really look forward to the match after a taxing day at college:D

3am kick off on a work night in this part of the world so the Monday night slot is the worst thing possible!

SlickRic

Xavi6 wrote: »

3am kick off on a work night in this part of the world so the Monday night slot is the worst thing possible!

you going to stay up for it though? it should be a cracking game.

Xavi6

SlickRic wrote: »

you going to stay up for it though? it should be a cracking game.

I just got up for it about 10 mins ago. 3 hours sleep beforehand, an hour after, then off to work.

Cheers Sky :rolleyes:

dreamers75

Xavi6 wrote: »

3am kick off on a work night in this part of the world so the Monday night slot is the worst thing possible!

Champions will **** you up next season so

Raskolnikov

Full house, good atmosphere, some boo's but mostly cheers for Gareth Barry.

MagicMarker

I just realized City are 6 points behind Chelsea, but have 2 games in hand!

Raskolnikov

City need to wake up. Passing has been sloppy so far.

Sherifu

Ade looks sharp after his rest.

SlickRic

the city away fans have been impressive in their volume so far.

bigstar

good start from us were seeing plenty of ball

Mr.Nice Guy

Heh nice tackle there by Dunney. :cool:

SlickRic

dunne's been excellent so far.

and he scores.

and to make it even funnier, barry was marking him.

Xavi6

Cuellar is the Villa weak link for me. If we can isolate him one on one against Bellamy's pace it will cause trouble.

Mr.Nice Guy

Ah Dunney you just cost me my H2H match but I'm still pleased for you.

Raskolnikov

Haha

Mug defending City.

Holsten

Get in Dunne haha.

Mr Alan

great header by Dunne.

want both teams to lose, but was delighted for Dunne there tbh.

Bounty Hunter

DUNNE! you FKN LEGEND

said in the Villa thread i could see a MOTM appearance coming from him and he has started brilliantly

Podge2k7

Dunne>>>>>Lescott

Xavi6

Lol typical

Sherifu

Delighted for Dunne.

Headshot

he should of celebrated

didnt i say city cant defend crosses...

Unearthly

Fantastic Dunne

Great to see.