Alex McLeish’s men kick off the home campaign side of the 2011/2012 season on Saturday when Blackburn Rovers travel to face Villa.

Blackburn, a team who have played Villa more times than any other Premier League side in recent years, come to Villa Park as underdogs, with Villa looking for the first win of the new campaign.

With Alex McLeish having a clean bill of health, he will be able to pick a team that should prove too much for Rovers, with new signings Charles N’Zogbia and Shay Given likely to receive their home debuts.

McLeish is likely to name a largely unchanged squad from the one that managed an away day draw against Fulham, with Shay Given passing tests to confirm his fitness for the weekend.

Personally speaking, I am expecting big things from Charles N’Zogbia and, whether he makes his impact this weekend or in the not to distant future, N’Zogbia is the type of player I welcome to Villa Park with open arms. Hopefully, when combined with the pace of Albrighton, the duo will provide the natural succession to the recently departed Ashley Young and Stewart Downing.

Looking directly at the statistics, all signs point to a Villa home win although, as we all know, anything can happen in a game of football.

Statistics

Statistics are brought to you by Eurosport:

There have been more draws at Villa Park (113) than at any other team in Premier League history.

Villa have scored exactly one goal in each of their last four Premier League matches at Villa Park.

Aston Villa have lost just one of their last nine Premier League matches.

Blackburn have won just two of their last 15 Premier League games.

Blackburn have lost 11 of their last 16 Premier League matches on the road, but lost only one of their last four away matches.

Stephen Warnock made more interceptions (7) than any other player on the opening weekend.

Darren Bent has scored three goals in his last four Premier League games against Rovers.

32% of Darren Bent’s Premier League goals over the last two seasons have been scored in the opening 15 minutes of matches.

There have been five goals scored between the 20th and 22nd minutes in Blackburn’s last five games, four of them netted by Rovers.

Villa conceded the joint-most fouls (19) in the opening round of matches.

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Matt Turvey
Matt is the owner of, and chief writer for, Aston Villa Life. He is also a columnist for the Wolverhampton Express & Star, appearing in the Kick Off pullout on Saturdays and the Final Whistle pullout the Monday after Aston Villa play, as well as every Thursday as a blogger on their website. He has previously been featured as a writer on Football365 and Life's A Pitch, and was a regular pundit for Sports Tonight TV on Sky.

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