Brighton becoming Villa South with Gardner loan move

The oft-injured and rarely-played Gary Gardner will continue to be one of Villa's most enigmatic young players as he heads out on loan to Brighton until January 1. For a few years now, Gardner has held the tantalizing promise of youth but fans have been unable to see much of anything from the 22-year-old midfielder. He'll get another chance on this loan to get some regular playing time, and while with the Seagulls, he will join defender Joe Bennett.

It's not terribly uncommon to see a team loan multiple players to the same club, but I still find it sort of amusing for some reason. Here we've got two players entering an unfamiliar changing room and instantly having a buddy they already know. After their first four matches in the Championship season, Brighton have six points from two wins and two losses. This means that Aston Villa South are indisputably better than are Fulham, who have zero points in the first four matches.

So at least we know that: we're not sending our players to a team that is worse than Fulham. And that's heartening.