Aston Villa vs Sunderland Pre-Match Thread

[eastie]

A Tekkers hattrick would be nice. He's due a goal after something of a goal drought given his form in 13.

Hopefully by Wigan he'll be netting his 20th league goal!

What a wonderful thing that would be to achieve in his 1st season in England.

[supertom]

At the very least he can get 2 more to beat JPA in 03-4 or 3 more to beat Yorkies best league hauls.

[martin o`who??]

They`ve definitely been given a lift by "The special-needs one", and we havn`t kept a clean sheet since just before the battle of Hastings, so we need to score a Minimum of 2, Going for a fraught 2-1 win, please God.

[Chipsticks]

Honestly I don't think anyone's put in a decent performance against Di Canio yet, and on our night we can take anyone apart. I think our attack will be too much for their defence.

3-1 Villa

Benteke, Weimann, Vlaar

[eastie]

Paul Lambert says he's not one for playing the prediction game.

Fans will be spending the next few weeks forecasting the results of the various basement battles and working out how that leaves their team at the end of the season.

Lambert insists that's not something he buys into, instead concentrating on "taking care of his team's business" in the four-game run-in.

He said: "I don't do it personally.

"I have a different mentality from a lot of other people. It's probably because I played abroad and things like that.

"It's just something where you have to look after your own. You'll see results and how they go but if you don't take care of your own job? That's first and foremost. That's the priority.

"You have to concentrate on yourself. That's all you can do. That's important for myself - to keep focused on what we do.

"We can't influence what anyone else does. We can only influence our own game.

"If you do that, you see what happens. But you can't see about other results going your way without taking care of your own.

"What I would say is I think there will be swings, going one way and then the other way. There are a lot of permutations about what could happen."

Lambert also insists that playing on Monday instead of Saturday - when Southampton, Wigan, Stoke and Norwich compete - doesn't bother him.

He added: "It doesn't matter to be honest. You can only do what you can do. That's the way it is thrown up and you go with it.

"If you're mentally strong, you focus on what your job is. It doesn't matter then when you play."

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Honestly I don't think anyone's put in a decent performance against Di Canio yet, and on our night we can take anyone apart. I think our attack will be too much for their defence.

I didn't watch their game against the Barcodes but I did see a completely useless Everton side lose at the weekend. How Everton think they can qualify for Europe playing with no strikers, a half arsed Felliani in defensive midfield and a team that only turned up in the last few minutes is beyond me.

Sunderland worked hard, lots of hoofing up to the front, they love heading tennis, Johnson can once again beat a man but his final delivery is still shocking. Up front I was surprised they scored, they lack any real threat. They're not a bad side, certainly better than under the clueless MON but as long as we match them in effort, I don't think there's too much to worry about.

Di Canio will probably go for the point and hope for a bit of luck on the break. Their defence is nearly as bad as ours so I'd expect all our three strikers to have plenty of chances. As long as they improve their finishing which has been poor these last few games, I think we'll win comfortably. If they go for an open game, I think we'll score a shed load.

It all comes down to matching their effort, something Everton didn't even come close to.

[Lobsterboy]

We need to win and I think we will!

I'm going for a real goalfest and Villa to come out on top 4-2 - Benteke, Agbonlahor, N'Zogbia and Weimann for us. Clark own goal and Cuellar for them

Bring on the Mackems!

[Tom_Mc9?]

Aston Villa 2-1 Sunderland

Bennett, Benteke and Bennett (og)

[Greg N'Ash]

Had a bad feeling that we're gonna f**k-up all week so wasn't going to bother with a prediction. However this season i've been horrific at guessing our results so in the spirit of not jinxing a crucual game, 1-2 Sunderland.

[DrGonzo]

shitting bricks.

[JUAN PABLO]

No larsson free kicks . I hate that ba*****d  and his free kicks

[tom jennings III]

I've gone for a win, the lord Mcgrath only knows if we'll ever keep a clean sheet again but this would be a good game to start! 3 beautiful tickets in my desk drawer and a ticking clock until Monday night. Hope the younger lads don't get a case of the jitters in this game, I think the atmosphere in Villa Park will be tense so an early goal would be amazing to settle the nerves. Let's remember, they are an awful awful team, just because they've built up a bit of a head of steam (and credit where it's due for doing so) doesn't make them any good. As many have already mentioned earlier, if we match them for effort we should be in with a very good chance of winning this game.

[JD]

3-1 to Villa. Benteke (2) and Gabby. Gardner will score for them.

[villa kicks]

1-0 Villa
Cuellar own goal

[paulcomben]

Lawrenson predicts a draw for Villa and a defeat for Wigan. At least we would be one point further ahead of Wigan, but that would all be slow torture.