Monday Aston Villa Links: Given injury and Game Wraps

The Monday after a match is usually devoted to analysis of the match, and today is no different. We've got some hopefully minor injury news and plenty of goo post-Fulham writing. Mat Kendrick was even prolific enough to get his own bullet-point!

• As many people noticed on Saturday, Shay Given didn't take the last few goal kicks of the match. There was some speculation that he might be injured, and that turns out to have been correct. The Express and Star tells us that our shiny new keeper has pulled his groin, though all involved are hopeful that he will be back to full health by this weekend. Obviously, it would be great if this were minor and Given could return against Blackburn this weekend. However, if he's not fully ready, I think we'd all rather see Brad Guzan for a game than chance hurting Shay even more.
• Injury woes aside, Shay Given was brilliant on Saturday, and it appears that he was as excited to play as we were to have him doing so.
• Mat Kendrick covered all the bases this weekend in his recap, moment of the match, and player grades. Additionally, he brings us news that Alex McLeish was very happy with the efforts of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Fabian Delph this weekend. And he should be, both played extremely well, and Delph could be a force if paired with someone other than Stiliyan Petrov. 
• Take this as your every-once-in-a-while reminder to read Dan's writing over at Aston Villa Central. His recap is excellent, as is most everything he does over there.
• And be sure to check out the coverage of Saturday's affair from SBN's Fulham blog. Cottagers Confidential has quick-reaction and a day-after posts that are both good reads.
• Finally, in case you missed any of the 7500 to Holte coverage of the match, be sure to check out Aaron's preview and recap, and if you want to relive it, the gamethread is here. And it's not too late to throw your guesses into our predictions post. 

Thanks for stopping by, and we hope you enjoyed the weekend. We've got a week to get ready for another match and hopefully the first win of the season.