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After Roller Coaster Week, Villa Look to Tottenham: Setting the Table

After beating Manchester City and securing a draw against West Brom, Aston Villa look ahead to their Sunday match at Tottenham.

By Robert Lintott
Alex Livesey - Getty Images

Remember when we did this last week? Villa were coming off of a humiliating defeat at the hands of Southampton and we were all dreading the team's trip to Manchester City for the third round of the League Cup. Seems like ages ago, doesn't it? Let's take a look at what happened and give a glance to the week ahead.

Just The Facts, Please


 Position W D L GD Pts
Aston Villa 15th 1 2 3 -4 5

Form (Last 5, Newest to Oldest): D L W D L

Results Last Week: Manchester City 2-4 Aston Villa (League Cup); Aston Villa 1-1 West Bromwich Albion (EPL)

Upcoming Fixtures:

  • First Team:
    at Tottenham - Sunday, October 7, 1500 GMT, 1000 Eastern
  • Reserves:
    at Tottenham (U21 League) - Monday, October 1, 1900 GMT, 1400 Eastern

Injuries

New Injuries Last Week:

  • Stephen Ireland - Wrist (at least 2 weeks)

Returned from Injury

  • Marc Albrighton - Foot

The Week That Was

  • The team picked themselves up from a demoralizing loss at Southampton to defeat Manchester City in the League Cup. More on that below.
  • After that win, Villa finally got a cup-related break and drew League One Swindon Town for the next round of the cup. The match will be played in the week of October 29.
  • Marc Albrighton made his return from injury, just in time to replace the departing-due-to-injury Stephen Ireland.
  • Former Aston Villa striker Emile Heskey signed with Australia's Newcastle Jets. Down there, he's apparently quite popular.
  • Of course, Villa ended the week with Sunday's match, earning a 1-1 draw against West Brom.
  • On a more site-related note, we shifted to this design you're looking at now. After a week of playing around, it's growing on me. I love what we can do with in-match story streams, and I think once we get a hang of everything we can do, this will be an even better site for you readers.

Match Notes

Manchester City 2-4 Aston Villa (Capital One League Cup)
Mario Balotelli (27'), Gareth Barry (59', OG), Aleksandar Kolarov (64'), Gabriel Agbonlahor (70'), Charles N'Zogbia (96'), Gabriel Agbonlahor (113')

  • Most of us didn't get to see the match, so our in-depth analysis is sparse. That said: WOO HOO!
  • Gabby was unquestionably the star of the match, as he netted two of the goals and assisted in a third. If his resurgence is a real thing, it bodes very well for Villa.
  • You can catch gifs of all of the goals here.
  • You can find Aaron's recap here.
  • The WhoScored recap is here.

Aston Villa 1-1 West Bromwich Albion (EPL)
Shane Long (51'), Darren Bent (80')

  • The first half was absolutely dominated by Aston Villa, but they couldn't create anything from their overwhelming possession advantage. Here, the star had to be Brett Holman who was everywhere on the pitch. His never-stop-running style of play is really growing on me, and it pairs well with the speed that Gabby and Marc Albrighton can bring to the pitch.
  • After that showing, it seemed inevitable that Villa would score, but they came out flat for the second half and pretty quickly let Shane Long score the match's first goal. That came as the result of some pretty poor decisions from the back line, but it was hard to be too angry.
  • After that, the match settled into a very boring pace, with many fans relegating themselves to the loss. But the addition of Darren Bent, Barry Bannan, and Charles N'Zogbia brought the team back to life. The renewed energy culminated in Bent's strike off of Bannan's corner that made it 1-1.
  • Worth noting: the goal was Villa's first EPL goal off of a corner since November of 2010. That's very nearly two years. Good lord.
  • You can find our coverage of the match here.
  • The WhoScored recap is here.

Looking Ahead

  • After the disaster at Southampton, and after Shay Given got the start in the League Cup match, I wondered if there would be a keeper controversy. It appears not, as Brad Guzan got the start against WBA and handled himself well. Look for him in net on Sunday.
  • The 4<4>2 worked pretty well this weekend, especially with the fresh legs in the first half. I'd love to see Bannan start in place of Delph, but I hope Lambert considers it for use against Tottenham.
  • Tottenham are off to another hot start and beat Manchester United 2-3 (at Old Trafford) this weekend. Villa will have their hands full against them, and I think a point would be a great result

Last Thoughts

Thanks, as always for reading. Stick around this week, as we've got a lot of great things coming your way. If you missed it, be sure to check out our interview with John Marsden of Stockport Sports FC for a fascinating look at life in non-league football.

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