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It was a truly [SPOILER] day as Aston Villa visited Derby County in a crucial six-pointer for both sides, as each looks to move closer to the automatic promotion spots. Villa would need to seriously improve on their home performance over Millwall last weekend, while Derby County beat Barnsley away from home and looked to continue their form.
Only earning a point off of Millwall meant that this match, in the highest difficulty tier for AVFC which Alex Carson pointed out in this weeks xV, would be crucial considering the pressure a draw or loss would put on future fixtures.
Due to your regular recapper being pulled away by his eldest daughters third birthday party, 7500 to Holte was granted permission to preview the match in full. In spite of our hope to share with you all of the detail of the fixture, being that the internet has been in an uproar over the last few days trying to protect themselves from plot spoilers for some kind of Star War, we chose to offer a spoiler-free recap of tomorrow’s fixture in order to protect the experience for the general population.
The Lineups
As the lineups were introduced [SPOILER] and [SPOILER] made their [SPOILER] [SPOILER] which truly left skipper [SPOILER] Bruce in a [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER].
With that said, [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] and [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] who looked to mend in time [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] and the team were likely preparing for [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER].
Birkir Bjarnason continued to be left off from the Starting XI, in spite of what seems to be a pressing need to rest Albert Adomah instead of running our most productive player into the ground. His day will come sooner rather than later.
The First Half
The first half kicked off and both clubs found it difficult to gain traction early with manager Steve [SPOILER] looking to earn the away point for just showing up, but [SPOILER] [SPOILER] with [SPOILER] from the [SPOILER] [SPOILER] couldn’t [SPOILER] [SPOILER] and [SPOILER] cleared but only to see [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] and keeper Sam Johnstone’s diving save which [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER]. Captain James Chester [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER].
Referee Lee Probert made himself no fans on either side as his first half decision to [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER]. He’s had an uneven day so far and would not improve as the match wore on.
[SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] Fucking Tommy Elphick! [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER].
Villa’s [SPOILER] [SPOILER] came from a free kick taken by [SPOILER] which is usually not his forte [SPOILER], but it was [SPOILER] anyway by [SPOILER] and the [SPOILER] side roared.
As the half drew to a close, Villa seemed to fall off with [SPOILER] and [SPOILER] [SPOILER] to [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] before the final whistle.
All in all, curious decisions by Bruce to [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] combined with Josh Onomah’s [SPOILER] [SPOILER] but [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER]. Glenn [SPOILER] would need to keep on both his feet and upright to [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] and make up [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER].
The Second Half
Even with [SPOILER] [SPOILER] and [SPOILER] Bruce and Villa made no changes at the half but it was [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER].
The excitement level rose as [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] before Keinan [SPOILER]’s shot just missed wide. He’s had a wonderful campaign in 2017 and if he could just finish a little better, we’d truly see him [SPOILER].
Johnstone again [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER]. He’s come into his own and locking him up for a future with Villa is a top priority of [SPOILER] Steve [SPOILER].
Villa’s old reliance on [SPOILER] [SPOILER] and [SPOILER] [SPOILER] reared it’s head again and [SPOILER] who looked a bit [SPOILER] by this point of the match. With the accumulated matches that he’s been involved in, it’s no surprise, and a wonder why [SPOILER] doesn’t mix up his lineups more.
Again referee Lee Probert [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER] and he certainly heard from it from [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER], but the damage was done.
Villa were [SPOILER] for the final few minutes and stoppage time, but Derby [SPOILER] and [SPOILER] and though the Rams [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER]. Villa [SPOILER] [SPOILER] the [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER].
At the end of the day it was an unsatisfying [SPOILER] [SPOILER] and [SPOILER] would be in [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER]. Both clubs will have a week off to [SPOILER] [SPOILER] and [SPOILER] before Derby County will look to one-up Villa’s previous performance by hosting Millwall, and the Claret and Blues would welcome sixth place Blades to Villa Park.