Villa travel to London a little banged up from international duties for what is turning out to be a fairly significant match at this point in the season. After today’s results, Villa could leapfrog Spurs into fourth, just two points off the top.

It’s pretty remarkable, but I’m not too worried about that just yet. It’s a long season and being here now doesn’t mean we will be at the end. However, keeping up is the name of the game if you do want to be there, and when you’re at this end of the table, you have to just keep getting results. It’s the teams just behind us I’m paying more attention to. There’s only five points between Villa and ninth-placed West Ham, and that would seem to be more important than where we are relative to City, Liverpool, and Arsenal at the moment.

If you take a look at Spurs’ last two outings, you’ve got a good example of how flying starts can come back down to Earth. If Villa can snatch a rare away win, Spurs will be right back in the fray with the rest of the top half. With Maddison and van de Vend out, Bissouma and Romero suspended and Sarr a doubt, it’s probably as good a time as any for Villa to get a big result. But they’ll be wanting to arrest the slide and find a path through their own injury woes.

On Villa’s side, I’m not seeing any concerns beyond Unai’s comments. Traoré is out, but that doesn’t make much difference. Bailey maybe sounded the most questionable, so I hope he can at least be part of the rotation with Legia coming up Thursday. McGinn, Emi, and Nicolo are the others who might be less than 100%.

Anyway, a good test regardless of Spurs’ injuries, and a marker of Villa’s ambitions. When I was talking about mentality, these are the kinds of games they have to get up for. They have to be better on the road. They have to believe they belong where they’re at, and put the travel and distractions behind them and believe in three straight wins before big tests against City and Arsenal. After that, it gets more favorable on paper, and it will be very interesting to see where we’re at at the end of the month.

Over to you.

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John Clark
John is co-owner of AVL, and has followed the Villa since the '70s. A journalist by trade, he is, by most accounts, a very nice person. You can follow me on Twitter @JClarkKohoutek. It's an astonishing experience. Or a complete waste of time.

Comments 84

  1. Plug

    Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Luiz, Kamara, McGinn; Diaby, Watkins.

    Subs: Olsen, Tielemans, Moreno, Lenglet, Duran, Bailey, Dendoncker, Ramsey, Iroegbunam

    Interesting lineup. No Zaniolo and Carlos starting. Tim on the bench. COYVB.

  12. John Clark

    Figured it might be a bit that way. Watching them play 1- and 2-men down, they were running hard, closing down.

    We’ve had a few good transitions on the break, missing the final ball. Like the move for Ollie’s disallowed goal. And he did try and hold up, close as it could be.

    But Spurs are strong and aggressive in midfield, so we’ll have to be just a bit smarter.

  27. Plug

    Top result from a tough match. Thought we might have done better than we did on the breaks. But hey, it’ll be a happy journey home for the away support.

  30. Plug

    James, don’t disagree about Martinez. The Laandaan media are gutted. The TV commentator is gutted. And we are 5 points clear of the Wai Ayes. I’ve opened a bottle of red to celebrate. Might have to open another one later.

    Did we really beat Chelsea and Spurs on their own patches this season? Happy days.

  31. jbd656

    Very satisfying worthy win. Don’t know if it was intentional but looked like we were playing 3 at the back. Always liked that system since Graham Taylor invented it for Villa.

    Bailey in much better more effective form than Diaby.Kamara did loads of good unseen work gluing Villa together and filling in all those little defensive gaps. Tielemans well and truly looking the part. Digne caught my eye doing LOADS of good work. Would have got my MOTM except for Martinez pulling off all those game saving saves and that vintage Colin Withers style flying save. That clinched it for me.

    Oh dear – I think I gushed. Fab win!

  32. James Gill

    No easy matches on field in this league,plenty on paper tho
    Love emery reaction to torres goal
    It’s not hard to see where next signing is for
    Few players need a rest plus moreno and ramsay need minutes on field

  33. Plug

    Son scored a hat-trick today. Every one was offside.

    Must say Big Jhon looked a handful when he came on. Mind you, Spurs were tiring by then.

    Just before halftime, we were informed that Spurs had run about 2 and a half kilometres more than us. It killed them in the end, but am I the only one who thinks we still dwell too long on the ball?

  36. John Clark

    The traveling fans were in good voice. It’ll be a very happy ride home.

    tbh, not exactly sure what I saw. The number of offsides is certainly a talking point. Posts, too. But Tielemans managed to get himself much more involved than Diaby, and that was a strong move from Unai. Obvs got the assist, too, so full credit, basically changed the game.

    And credit to Spurs. Sort of became apparent they wanted to go full tilt, get a lead, as there weren’t many fresh legs on the bench. They defo tired down the stretch, but it’s a deep side, and Ange has them all playing the same way. Can’t feel too sorry for them, though, because we weren’t that deep to begin the season. Our players have logged a lot of minutes already.

  38. Plug

    It was a big call to pull Diaby, but he was struggling. His one chance needed a first time hit and he took a touch and it was gone. Perhaps he’s carrying an injury. Unai got that call correct.

  39. John Clark

    Plug,

    That would probably be my criticism, dwelling a bit too much. They’ve gotten the patient part down, and holding it to take the air out, but some of the final decisions aren’t great.

    You mentioned the break, and for me, not releasing it soon enough is the issue. We do seem to hesitate, try to make too sure of it, and the space diminishes. And while Bailey has improved (more contributions in his time), he just isn’t the kind of consistent threat you’d like.

    Would be interesting to see Diaby in that spot, rather than the second striker. Tielemans has the quality to be a 10 up there, and Moussa running into space.

    Then when we’re carrying it, Luiz, McGinn, Kamara don’t have lightning pace. We do a lot better playing it wide and meeting a cross than we do threading through-balls.

  40. John Clark

    Hoping that Zaniolo can get his head right…Breaks and space would seem to suit him. Him and Diaby settling would make a huge difference. I think I’d like to see more of Youri with Diaby, because he seems most capable of finding him.

    You see Diaby in between the lines and not getting the ball, getting frustrated. That would seem to be the key to unlocking his game.

    Ramsey returning is a big plus. Obvs will take time to get his fitness up, but he’s strong, and drives directly and with decent pace, like you’d expect Zaniolo to do.

  41. r0bb0

    Must admit, I’d not had the confidence to predict that.
    I wish I could relax and ‘enjoy’ the games but I’m struggling to break free from the feeling that it’s all going to go wrong.
    Thank goodness our manager and players are made of stronger stuff!

  42. r0bb0

    Plug and JC, yes, it does feel that sometimes we could break a bit faster although inevitably that does increase the chances of us losing possession and having to chase back.
    Assuming we’re being coached to play this way, rather than not quite having the confidence to push on, then right now, it’s hard to argue that the end results don’t justify the means were using to achieve them.

  43. r0bb0

    JC, the number of offsides was remarkable and I can imagine some Spurs fans are being critical of Son in particular in the same way that some Villa fans are criticising Ollie for being offside for his first ‘goal’.
    You have to give credit to our defence though, for their superb coordinated timing in stepping up and leaving opposition players offside.
    Son is nobody’s mug so they must be doing their job well, rather like a boy band, with perfectly choreographed moves, but without the benefit of the music.

  44. jbd656

    r0bb0
    I’m going to frighten you some more. Remember 1980 when we started slow then started to creep up the table. At the time, we didn’t really see it coming after bumbling round in the league for five years after promotion. Then we didn’t really believe what happened in May 1981. Just so I don’t put the mockers on things, I think shitty and red scouse will be too strong to slip up.

  45. r0bb0

    jbd. . . . wtf are you trying to do there! 🙂
    . . . . .to put things right, I’d better mention that Arsenal are looking good, and Ten Hag is getting it together at United and Newcastle will keep pushing on, and. . . .ok, that’s probably enough

  46. r0bb0

    I haven’t been on the Spurs blogs yet, but I would be surprised if they’re not starting to question why they’ve lost 3 games in a row in which they’ve led.
    I’m sure I’m not the only one who saw that stat about how much harder they’d worked than us in the first half (I think Plug or JC mentioned it) and thought. . . I hope that starts to tell on them in the second half.
    Did they run out of steam a bit, or was it Emery’s substitutions, or maybe a bit of both?

  51. Plug

    I’m a level headed type of guy. When things are bad, they are never that bad. When things are good, they are never that good. My feet are firmly planted.

    Then I look at the table. We are in a Champions League position. Then I watch Ollie’s one two with Tielemans hitting the onion bag again and the away fans detonating followed by mayhem and bedlam. Fucking hell, COME ON VILLA.

  53. r0bb0

    I see the London media report that Son had 3 goals disallowed, whereas Watkins was shown “to have strayed off side” for his disallowed goal.

  55. r0bb0

    I saw someone suggest that Postecoglou may be the new Bielsa and it’s an interesting comparison.
    Could their high intensity, hard working way of playing be contributing to their long injury list?

  56. Ian

    Well that was tense. That high line is going to give me a heart attack one day. Watkins, from my perspective wasn’t offside. His foot perhaps but the defenders arm for me was well ahead of Watkins foot. As for spurs goal a deflection did Martinez in. I think that at a certain distance from the goal the keeper should have a clear view of the shooter. Defenders should defer to the keeper for the save. I’ve seen Cash and Konza lunge at the last second only to deflect and not steer clear. Obviously they’ve cleared the ball plenty of times. My point being Martinez most likely would have saved the shot regardless of their efforts. It’s his box and should be making the call or an understanding to step back.

  59. r0bb0

    Just took a look at a Spurs forum. Well its nice to see that we all hate the referee!

    They think that Kamara, Carlos and Cash should all have been sent off. Their players are all saints and didn’t commit a single foul in the game, but Villa players can’t stay on their feet, and Son’s offsides were marginal (so presumably shouldn’t have been given?)

    I do actually feel sorry about the number of injuries they have. Postecoglou has them playing exciting football and even with all the changes they’ve had to make they still played well yesterday.

    There are quite a few parallels between us and them, both with impressive new managers, getting the most out of the players at their disposal, despite a raft of injuries.

    . . . . . I think I’ll just take another quick look at those game highlights again! 🙂

  60. r0bb0

    oh. . . . .and Villa’s tactics were to injure an influential Spurs player and reduce their already depleted squad, and Hard Man Cash was the one chosen to do it.

    It ‘was’ a clumsy tackle, having missed the ball by some way but you get several of those in every game, and it’s really unlucky when a player is caught awkwardly or lands awkwardly and can’t continue. Anyway, I hope that Bentancur recovers quickly so that Spurs can at least give City a run for their money next time out.

  61. John Clark

    r0bb0,

    Seeing the foul back, I agree, your garden-variety leg-swipe, probably the most common and least dangerous way of bringing someone down professionally.

    Shame he got hurt, but nowhere near the kinds of tackles their players were sent off for.

  62. Ian

    I’ve been reading a few articles about the game from London sources. It reminds me of an old joke about the homers in Montreal media regarding hockey.

    The first star of the game is Henri Richard because he skates so fast and shoots so hard.

    The second star of the game is Jean Beliveau because he always charges the net and creates chances.

    The third star of the game is Gordie Howe because if he didn’t score a hat trick Montreal would have won the game.

  64. James Gill

    So now focus on Thursday night and legit
    Good night to give moreno and ramsay starts,hopefully not to many changes
    I would like to see
    Martinez
    Cash lenget torres moreno
    Kamara tielmens mcginn ramsay Bailey
    Watkins
    With great options on bench
    Start strong and hopefully be fit rest a few after half time

  65. r0bb0

    JC, I wasn’t even sure that Cash was ‘bringing him down professionally’ . . . . .I thought it might have just been a shit tackle! 🙂

  66. r0bb0

    The media aren’t giving up on the Luiz talk in a hurry are they? Where does it come from? Do clubs have quiet words with their pet journalists and bloggers and ask them to start sowing rumours?

    It’s hard to see where Luiz would go that would be better for him right now.

    Going to Man City is a big risk for any player’s career. Yes there is the best chance of being in a squad that wins trophies but as Jack and Kalvin Phillips have found out, there’s no guarantee that you’ll fit into Pep’s plans and get regular games.

    Iv’e heard Jack say that Pep has improved him as a player. . . . but I can’t see it. He now seems a shadow of the player that Beaky would reluctantly bring on for England. Back then, the atmosphere in Wembley would life when Jack was brought on and you felt that he was the most likely player to make something happen. These days he seems more like an oppressed, abused partner, than the free spirit he was before.

    Liverpool just might suit him and there does at least seem to be a good atmosphere within that club, but I haven’t heard much of Liverpool as a potential buyer for him.

    Arsenal is a trickier one. They are doing well at the moment but is Arteta a better manager than Emery? I really don’t think so.

  69. John Clark

    Dougie’s not going anywhere, they have to have something to write about. I ignore most everything transfer-related besides Fabrizio Romano on twitter. He’s usually the one in the know.

    Jack? Cautionary tale, yes. Had his moment in the sun, then Pep found a new toy. If I were Doug, I’d harbor a bit of a grudge that City didn’t exercise the buy-back. The others? Maybe some interest, maybe some agent talk.

    But we’ll be asking for a lot of money if it turns out he does want to move on.

  70. John Clark

    JG,

    Not sure I see starts for Ramsey and Moreno. Will be a tough, almost must-win match. I’d think they’d be ones to get run-outs if we’re ahead with 15-20 to go. Lot of match speed to get back up to.

    Which naturally means they’ll start 🙂

  72. jbd656

    I think I’ve seen transfers and the press first hand. I have the questionable honour of living in the land of the plastic scouse, namely Ellesmere Port. The Liverpool Echo is one of the two local rags. Think back to late MON and also the later implosion. Liverpool decided that they wanted Gerro’s bestie ie Gareth Barry. The transfer rumours started in the echo weeks before the national clickbait media. The transfer failed for something to do with Xabi Alonso. I tittered when GB went to shitty just before we realised how obnoxious they were becoming – not tittering now.

    Few years later and red scouse decided they needed a winger. The echo and local clickbait media, out of the blue, were writing articles analising (deliberate mistake) the relative merits of Ashley Young and James Milner and where and how they would fit in the team. Presumably red and blue manc realised said players might be unsettled and sploshed the dosh. Presumably liverpool’s purse was too ragged to compete.

    Seems a year later liverpool realised that dropping hints to the echo to unsettle a player just ended up alerting the richer clubs. They slashed out £20M on Stewy Downing totally without warning in order to feed that other well known bargain, centre forward Andy Carroll. We all know how that ended and was well worth a lengthy titter.

    Follow me for more myopic ancient football conspiracy theory where we don’t win the first division title, liverpool just have a sub par year!

  73. Plug

    Very amusing, 656. Lerner had their trousers down when he got £20 million for Downing. Unfortunately for us, Lerner had also decided to liquidate any assets of value (those players you mention) and sell off the remaining carcass to the highest bidder (Dr Skint).

  74. r0bb0

    There were quite a few rumours of Jack’s days being numbered at City, and Doku is certainly looking the part so it does seem that Jack has become a squad player rather than first choice. Last night’s game will have only gone to strengthen those rumours.

    So. . . . .would you take Jack and Kalvin Phillips in exchange for Douglas Luiz? 🙂

  75. Plug

    Not for me rObBo. Phillips seems injury prone and has spent a lot of time on the recovery couch. Jack has been changed by Pep and is not as effective playing the way Citeh want from him. Not sure his original Villa way would suit an Unai set up but if Unai did trade as you ask I would not be making waves against it. But I doubt Unai would be interested.

    The window is open again in 1 month. Conjecture is ramping up. For me, I think we’ve been lucky that Ollie has avoided injury. If he does become unavailable, we would currently have to rely on Big John and Diaby. Wonder if Unai is happy with that situation.

  76. r0bb0

    Plug, in answer to your question, I’m sure none of us would feel comfortable in losing Ollie. Right now, he’s the second best performing attacker in the whole league so it’s unrealistic to imagine that he’s replaceable like for like. Even if we could find, and afford, a player of similar calibre, how would you keep both Ollie and the new striker happy?
    I’ve no doubt that Emery will have his plan B scenario in place, in case Ollie was injured and it might be JD, or it might be that one of our other attacking midfielders would have to step into the role.

  77. r0bb0

    It would be good to see JD fully rehabilitated (assuming there was indeed a falling out with the manager) and let’s hope he gets some game time and shows that he is a fully functioning Plan B

  79. John Clark

    Interesting comments, as usual.

    Ollie? Yeah, pretty irreplaceable at present. I agree, Emery would likely tinker with Diaby, Zaniolo, Duran.

    Seems to me Duran’s issue is probably age/maturity, and following strict instructions. Guessing he’s used to imposing himself on a lesser level (Championship, maybe even L1), and hasn’t had to play as tactically disciplined a scheme as Emery’s, including all the work off the ball.

    Just a guess, though.

    Getting Zaniolo up on his own in space could be interesting.

  80. John Clark

    Jack is an interesting question…Me, I don’t know that he’s an Emery player.

    But.

    Given how he’s had to adapt himself to City’s style, he might be a fit after all. Whether he’d want to come back, there’s that, and I’m sure City will be asking a lot, so I think either of those would make it a non-starter.

    Phillips? Going to City seems to have killed his career. And maybe all that running he did for Bielsa. Hasn’t looked anywhere near the same player in an England shirt, that’s for sure.

    Bowen? Yes please. And I really wish we could’ve gone for Rice. Oozes class, hasn’t missed a beat.

  82. r0bb0

    JC, that looks like a good analysis of the Jack situation.
    He deserves to play in a team where he can play with freedom . . . . heck, he just deserves to play! It’s not right that someone of his skill isn’t getting to play and be seen by fans week in week out. I’ve just checked and was shocked to see that he’s not been used at all in half this season’s premier league games and only come on as a late substitute (in the last 15 minutes) in a further 4. He’s only played the full 90 minutes in 2 games and they were at the start of the season.
    Docu on the other hand has played more minutes in the last 6 games than Jack has played all season.
    He has medals in his cabinet now and he must be satisfied with those, but really must now move on, to avoid just sinking into obscurity, far too early in his career.

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