Kickin' It: Villa head into international break in the top half of the table

Aston Villa head into the international break... in the top half of the table? Well that was a bit unexpected. Let's get to the recap of the week that was.

Just The Facts, Please

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

Results Last Week: Hull City 0-0 Aston Villa (EPL)

Upcoming Fixtures:

• First Team:
  None (International Break)

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.

Just a quick reminder that, since Hull City wasn't in the league last year, the comparison team for them (randomly assigned) is Wigan. The next three matches Villa play (Tottenham, Everton, at West Ham) were all losses last year. Anything from those three is a bonus.

Injuries

New Injuries Last Week:

• First Last - what’s hurt (expected return, if known)

Match Notes

Hull City 0-0 Aston Villa (EPL)

• Dear lord what a boring match. But hey, it's not all bad. Let's go through some of the upside in the match.
• Fabian Delph had yet another 90 minutes of looking fantastic. He's passing well and actually acting as a catalyst for the attack. Additionally, and I don't want this to sound pithy, he's finally gaining control of himself in his tackling. Delph has now played three matches in a row without getting a yellow card. It's nice that Villa's most active player isn't having to play with the threat of a second yellow hanging over his head.
• Brad Guzan wasn't challenged too often by the uninspiring Hull City offense, but he nabbed his second clean sheet in 3 matches.
• The Villa defense is looking pretty good as well. Speaking of clean sheets, in their last six matches they've had three. Yes, there was the dumpster fire that was the Tottenham match, but they've kept Rotherham United, Norwich City, and Hull City off the board. They've also only given up 12 goals in 9 matches (across all competitions) this season, or only 1.33 per match. They're not great, but they sure as heck are better than they were last year.
• You can find Aaron's recap here, and my instant reaction to the match here.
• The WhoScored recap is here. My favorite part is the strengths for Hull City.

Looking Ahead

• And now we head to the international break. We'll let you know what Villans are up to as the week progresses.
• Belgium, of course, have already called up the injured Christian Benteke. Now sure, it's annoying because they could hurt him more than he already is. But if he can actually play, it means that the Belgian striker is ahead on his recovery and could be playing for Villa again more quickly than we though. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
• Villa, meanwhile, get a week off to prepare for Tottenham's second visit to Villa Park this year. Eesh.

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