Aston Villa are a 2-1 team.
They’re a keep-it-tight-team because Martin O’Neill is a keep-it-tight manager.
They won 2-1 at West Brom and beat Sunderland 2-1. They lost 2-1 at Chelsea on the day Arsenal drew 1-1 at Sunderland. And they won 4-0 at Wigan on the day Arsenal won 2-0 at West Ham.
As you know, last weekend Arsenal beat Man United 2-1 and they lost : Aston Villa 1 Middlesbrough 2. So this a big test for O’Neill’s remodelled side.
Villa try to be solidly organised at the back, try to hit you on the break. Gabby Agbonlahor out-sprints most defenders – opponents respect his pace and deploy themselves accordingly. On Arsenal, Agbonlahor said : every one of their back four’s got pace. By that he means : that makes it more difficult for me.
Brad Friedel looks a good signing. Being born in Ohio, he had a difficult and nomadic start to his career but made his name at Blackburn, who sold him to Villa last summer. Friedel is a guy whose perseverance and bottle I’ve always admired. But in the last few weeks the big Yank has had moments when he’s looked his age. He is 37. That’s not exactly old for a keeper but he’s past his prime.
Today there’s nothing I can tell you about Arsenal that you don’t already know. Adebayor might start, so might Carew. If Ade starts and Carew doesn’t, Arsenal should win.
If Aston Villa score first, this might be a difficult game. But Arsenal should still win. Without knowing the line-ups, it’s impossible to make predictions and your guess is as good as mine. My guess is that Nasri will score again. He is not scared to shoot. He will shoot with his left foot and his right. He’s not scared to miss. Pele missed the target, and Zidane missed, so Nasri is allowed to miss. I think he’ll shoot wide. But I think he’ll score as well.
The most intriguing Premier League game is Hull v Man City tomorrow.
Hull are tactically superior, City are technically superior. Hull know how to defend, City don’t.Geovanni, discarded by Mark Hughes, signed by Phil Brown on a free, will want to score the winner. What did Brain Glanville call it? The immutable law of the ex.
Fulham v Spurs brings Harry Redknapp’s revival show to Craven Cottage. Six games in charge, five wins and a 4-4 draw at the Emirates. I’d call that five and a half wins.
Sunderland have lost four league games a row and don’t want to make it five at Blackburn, who just beat them in the Carling Cup. Sunderland are missing keeper Craig Gordon, big time.
How will Man United deal with Roy Delap’s long throws? Better than Almunia.
Do Bolton have any chance of beating Liverpool today? No.
Chelsea, reeling from that Carling Cup defeat by Burnley, travel to West Brom for a 5.30 kick-off looking a bit vulnerable. But they will win. Very silly behaviour by Drogba in the Burnley game. He scored a goal that was a truly tasty Drogba goal but his head isn’t right if he thinks he can throw a coin back into the crowd.
Still, I’m a Drogba fan, I think he’s an OK geezer.
French journalists who know him well say he’s a good guy. For me, when his head is right, he’s cool. When Paris St Germain played Chelsea, the Paris crowd gave Drogba hell because they don’t like Marseilles players or ex-Marseilles players, especially dangerous ones like him. So when he scored, Drogba jogged behind the goal and put his arms out level with his shoulders and gently pumped his arms out , from the elbow. That gesture mocked the celebration of PSG’s goal-machine Pauleta, who was a crowd favourite in that stadium.
That was a bit naughty, a minor misdemeanour. On a scale of 1 top 10, where would you put it? On a scale of 1 to 10, if Eric Cantona’s king-fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan was a 10, where would you put Drogba’s droll arm-pumping celebration? Where would you put his coin-throw ? What punishment would you give him? As you know, he could miss the Arsenal game.
West Ham host Portsmouth and I’m worried about Tony.
I’m worried that he might get damaged. I’ve been concerned since 9.30 on the Monday morning after Harry left at midnight on Saturday to join Spurs, when I heard that Tony had told the club: I want it, I won’t be assistant or caretaker, give me the job or I’m off.
Hammers boss Zola badly needs a win. He says, “Adams definitely kicked me more than once. I remember the first time I played against him in the 1994 Cup-Winners Cup final in Copenhagen when I was with Parma. The game was so tough because he was not only a strong defender but also very intelligent. He could read the game and anticipate what I was doing. I was very impressed by him. Then I saw him when I came to England to play for Chelsea and it got worse! He was one of the best defenders I played against but he was also tough, honest and fair. I have always said that about him.”