Villa try to recover from Tottenham loss as Everton comes to town

Well, football is back from the break! And Villa didn't lose 0-4! These are good things!

Just The Facts, Please

Form (Last 5, most recent first): L D W W L

Results Last Week: Aston Villa 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur (EPL)

Upcoming Fixtures:

• First Team:
  Everton (EPL) - Saturday, October 26, 1500 GMT, 1000 Eastern

Tracking Villa's Progress

A look at how Aston Villa are doing compared to corresponding fixtures from last season. For a more full explanation of the corresponding fixtures table, see here.

What I find most interesting about the corresponding fixtures table this week is the fact that an 0-2 loss actually improved Villa. In last year's Tottenham visit to Villa Park, Spurs won 0-4, so hey, we did better! If you're looking ahead to this weekend, Everton's trip to Birmingham last year ended in a 1-3 Villa loss.

Injuries

New Injuries Last Week:

• None!

Match Notes

Aston Villa 0-2 Tottenham (EPL)
Andros Townsend (31’), Roberto Soldado (69’)

• This was a pretty poorly played match by Aston Villa. They got outdone in nearly every aspect of the game, and the final score seems more than fair. Tottenham had 63% possession, 6 shots on target (as opposed to Villa's 2), and successfully completed 80% of their passes.
• One of the real bright points for Aston Villa, though, was Fabian Delph. The midfielder continued to build on an already impressive season with phenomenal work yesterday. He completed 39 of 44 passes attempted, and was the only strength in a midfield that pretty much did nothing.
• As good as Delph was, though, the midfield is still Aston Villa's weakest point. Karim El Ahmadi (hilariously referred to as El Hamadi by the co-commentator multiple times) and Ashley Westwood had probably their worst game of the season thus far. Westwood, in particular, looked atrocious, picking up an early yellow and doing nothing useful all day.
• I hate to pile on to what we've all heard so much of, but Andros Townsend looked like the real deal today.
• The other bright spot for Villa was the return of Christian Benteke. He came on for Libor Kozak (who has been TERRIBLE lately) in the 61st minute, and the team immediately looked as if it had new life breathed into it. It'll be great to see him actually get a full match in soon.
• Aaron will have a more detailed recap coming later.
• The WhoScored recap is here.

Looking Ahead

• This Saturday brings Everton to Villa Park, and I cannot be alone in wishing the match were anywhere else. The inability to do much at Villa Park (Manchester City match aside) is becoming more and more perplexing. At home, Villa have one win, three losses, and a goal differential of -3. On the road, it's two wins, one draw, and one loss with a differential of +2. So weird.
• Anyhow, Everton. They will come in having only one loss, and that to Manchester City. (Hey, Villa beat them!) Roberto Martinez has his team playing very well, and Villa will certainly face a stiff challenge on Saturday.
• That said, Christian Benteke will likely be back for the entire match, which will be a huge help. Aston Villa legitimately looked like a different team when he came on the pitch yesterday. Perhaps most noticeable was Benteke's impact in the air, where Villa were really stuggling.
• Early guess on the match? Villa gut out a 2-2 draw. But really, who the heck knows.

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