An Almost Fully Fit Aston Villa Squad For Blackburn

With the exception of Carlos Cuellar, it seems every Aston Villa player is fit and available for selection on Saturday, for the first match of the season at Villa Park. Where the team will, almost inevitably, face Blackburn Rovers -- but I'll let Aaron handle the Blackburn jokes in his match preview, coming later today. What I'll mention here is the possibility that centerbacks Ryan Nelsen and Chris Samba both return to the starting XI, having both returned to training last week.

Obviously, it would be slightly easier on the Villa if Nelsen and Samba are still out. But with Darren Bent, Gabby Agbonlahor, Marc Albrighton and Charles N'Zogbia all available for selection, we'll probably still be able to make life miserable for Rovers. Plus, the Shay Given groin scare (which was truly terrifying) seems to have passed, so we can all continue to worship at his goal posts.

The tough question this weekend will be: who to choose? Which, of course, is much better than "which fans can we pull out of the stands because the entire team is on the physio table?" The 7500 team all attempted to name their ideal starting XI, not for Blackburn but in general, and you can find the results here. Let us know your thoughts, for Blackburn and beyond.