Aston Villa vs Derby County, Play-Off Final, Monday, 3pm, Sky Sports Football

Mr.Nice Guy

Odds on winning promotion

Villa 8/13
Derby 5/4

Tomorrow afternoon we learn which team will be the Premier League's 20th side next season as Villa and Derby meet at Wembley.

Villa had the edge when they faced Derby in the league, winning 3-0 away and 4-0 at home. They also finished 2 points ahead of their opponents. Will that count for anything on the day?

Dean Smith's side aren't expected to have selection issues whereas Frank Lampard's team will be missing LB Scott Malone after he was dismissed against Leeds. That means Ashley Cole could feature in possibly his last professional game.

From an Irish POV Conor Hourihane and Glenn Whelan will be hoping to celebrate promotion with Villa, while Richard Keogh will be hoping to lift the Play-Off trophy with Derby.

Who do you think wins it tomorrow? Who are you hoping to see go up? I'd like Villa to get promoted as they were such a mainstay of the Premier League for so long. Doesn't feel right them being a tier below. I'll go for them to win it by a goal.

Rhys Essien

I hope Villa will do it. As you say they are a huge club that belong in the Prem. It would be great for Hourihane having had to play in League 1 for a few years.

I’ll go 2-1 Villa with Hourihane scoring.

Mr.Nice Guy

Teams:

Aston Villa XI: Steer; Elmohamady, Tuanzebe, Mings, Taylor; Hourihane; Adomah, McGinn, Grealish, El Ghazi; Abraham.

Derby County XI: Roos; Bogle, Keogh, Tomori, Cole; Johnson, Huddlestone; Wilson, Mount, Lawrence; Bennett.

The legend Paul McGrath unsurprisingly backing Villa today. I forgot he played for Derby near the end of his career.

https://twitter.com/Paulmcgrath5/status/1132931507348221952

Mr.Nice Guy

Villa take the lead! El Ghazi with the header.

LuckyGent88

Villa have been the better team anyway and El Ghazi has been quite threatening.

super_furry

Derby are really poor up front and so bad with dealing with crosses into the penalty area. I'm only surprised it took Villa this long to make a decent cross count.

Mr.Nice Guy

Lot of fouls atm. Think that was the fourth booking of the game just now.

TheCitizen

Grealish up to his usual antics, he's got such a poor attitude.

Mr.Nice Guy

McGinn makes it 2-0 Villa!

Keeper's had a horrible last ten minutes.

MonkeyTennis

Keeper ... UGH

LuckyGent88

Brutal from the Derby keeper. Villa two up through the smallest man on the field

Utopia Parkway

Amazing how many awful howlers you see in the play offs. Practically guaranteed a few every year.

Adamcp898

Horrible mistake. At least derby will be forced out now

cmac2009

Oof keeper what were you thinking. So many options available and he goes for that one.

Mr.Crinklewood

Horrific from the keeper

Mr.Nice Guy

2-1! Marriott pulls one back for Derby. Not over yet...

LuckyGent88

Squeaky bum time

Mr.Nice Guy

7 minutes of injury time.

Mr.Crinklewood

Derby guy (,Wilson?) Didn't need to go down there. Should have stayed on his feet instead of looking for free.

Mr.Nice Guy

IT'S OVER!

Villa are back in the Premier League.

LuckyGent88

Fair play to Villa. Huge achievement after where they were at the start of February. Nice to see them back

super_furry

Two teams that I think would struggle in the Premier League without serious work and signings. Grealish is a talent and Ming's was very good but even with Abraham, Villa will struggle for goals next season.