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.
For Villa, so much of what we admire in other sides is the range of passing, control, decision-making, and awareness. Villa just don’t have enough of it. We also don’t have enough aggression, pace, and perhaps stamina.
May sound like a lot, but after some clear-outs that set the stage for the summer, I can see us getting four, maybe five players that could transform the squad.
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.
