A midweek league game. An important one.
What will Arsenal face at Villa Park?
If Aston Villa win, they’ll do it by scoring from set-pieces. If Arsenal win, they’ll do it with goals from Vermaelen and Fabregas.
Villa’s main quality is organisation, Arsenal’s main quality is skill.
Martin O’Neil is over-rated and so are his team. They will not be Top Four.
Yes, Villa have very solid centrebacks in Richard Dunne and James Collins. Two stoppers who can play a bit. Dunn has a point to prove after being unloaded from Man City by Mark Hughes. Collins, 26, is 6’4″ and used to play for Cardiff and West Ham.
Overall, though, Villa are just a team of journeymen with a bit of pace.
An old fashioned template: O’Neill mostly has two at the back who can head it, a little and large up front, plus wingers who can cross the ball.
Always quite liked James Milner because he’s a throwback to the Seventies or Sixties or Fifties, a dogged, two-footed winger who dribbled, grafted and crossed the ball. At times he was a bit like Geordie Armstrong, even when he was 17 at Leeds.
Now with a playmaking role, Milner has blossomed and become nailed-on to be aboard Capello’s plane to South Africa.
Stilian Petrov ? What does he do? Does he ever win a tackle or score a goal?
Villa are a defensive side who were 1-0 up against Blackburn after the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final.
They started the second leg nervously and conceded two goals to Kalinic in the first 26 minutes. Then Samba was sent off and Villa went on to win the second leg 6-4 against 10 men.
Ashley Young is flaky and when he plays on the right flank he’s rubbish.
But Gabby Agbonlahor is a striker I have time for. He’s not skilful but he’s dangerous.
The best way to beat Arsenal is to play like Fulham but Aston Villa can’t play that way and won’t play that way.
They won’t play a high back line and press. They’ll defend deep and let Arsenal establish a rhythm and let them have the ball in wide areas.
The contest might last a long time but Arsenal will eventually beat Aston Villa. It’s the most winnable of the four games that define Wenger’s season.
Buying the Belgian has saved Wenger’s job, I think.
Gallas has played far better with Vermaelen than with Toure. And Gallas now wants to stay at Arsenal because he has an efficient, reliable partner.