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.
Just like that, here we are, final match of what’s seemed a very long season. I think most everyone is fairly happy to see the back of it. The fact that Villa will either play a part in City’s coronation or collapse on the last day.
Big night at Villa Park as quadruple-chasing Liverpool come to town having lost ground to City over the weekend. As always, I’d think we might take a lesson from Conte and set up to frustrate and counter. Jurgen wasn’t very happy about it, but it was effective, and I’m not sure why he thinks teams should open up for him.
Gerrard has apparently penciled in a 3-5-2, with Mings, Konsa, and Chambers, and Phil is on the bench. Probably about the last thing I expected. Will Buendia shine and give the brass something to think about? I know I’d like to see it.
You wouldn’t normally think Norwich at home is a big game, but with Deano returning to Villa Park for the first time in charge of another club, it is a big day. Never mind that Villa could help seal the Canaries’ relegation and put to rest any such concerns of their own.
Which is also an odd thing to be writing. Villa should be nowhere close to relegation worries, and maybe they’re not, overall. Yet…
I wouldn’t necessarily have thought there’d be a lot riding on this game a few weeks back. But now it kind of looks like there might be. Villa may have actually found themselves with something to play for after all…However unexpectedly.