Previews of Aston Villa matches, both competitive and non-competitive
Bournemouth will understandably have a bit of desperation in them and Villa’s job is to keep that at arm’s length. Ideally, turn it against them. But three points would go a very long way for the Cherries given the brutal congestion below Villa’s 35 points. Three for Villa could see us finish the weekend above Chelsea, though that’s asking a lot of Everton.
The philosophy equals the points. The philosophy, the club mentality is the pathway. That’s Emery’s pre-match message: You establish the philosophy, and good things follow. That means he’s less concerned with Europe than he is with foundations. It’s also true that Unai will be looking at the run-in and thinking we should be in with a shout in all of them.
Here we are on matchday with Villa looking to perhaps pass Chelsea and lay claim on 10th. But it’s never easy against Palace, and you have to think Chelsea will stop fumbling around sooner or later. But maybe they have to fire Potter, first.
All sorts of things one could write, but I’ve run out of time, as per. But top of my head, Tyrone Mings’ absence is a potentially devastating bit of news on the day.
I didn’t really have a read on the game during the week…Yeah, it’s City away, so there’s the obvious. But I was wondering more about whether this City side was truly sputtering, what results elsewhere would mean, and whether they’d be like a cornered animal.
May not matter much, now.
As we move through the window, Villa will keep working with what they’ve got. So, one would hope lessons have been learned. Konsa’s spoken of hours of meetings where Emery is trying to link what the players see on the pitch to the bigger picture of what they should be seeing. Leeds will present an entirely different kind of challenge, and there should at least be space to play in.
