Fair enough, his performance today, in front of Capello, was not a good example but surely Capello watches his potential squadsmen more than just the once before deciding upon them. Young is having an excellent season and is fully deserved of a place in the squad if not the team.

Shaun Wright-Phillips is back in the squad, which I agree with, but I’m still adamant that Young is better than Downing and also Jenas, who recently is not showing anything close to his form of last season. Even Nigel Reo-Coker is way more deserved of a place than Jenas.

Oh well, I’ll just go on supporting England no matter what and hoping that Villa players will eventually get the rewards for their hard work… someday.

The rumours that were flying around about Chelsea’s injuries were only half true, but injuries barely seem to matter with them because they have so much strong back up. The Chelsea side that we faced today was awesome. We played well and against many teams we would’ve romped home with that display but the game Chelsea played today was way beyond beatable for us. It could easily have been a worse scoreline than 2-0 with the amount of chances they had.

One note of interest was Joe Cole going off injured, so if he misses the England game next Saturday will Ashley Young start? Fabio Capello was there today to see his two best left midfielders but, while Cole was excellent, Young failed to shine. I won’t be surprised if bloody Downing starts if Cole is injured.

Curtis Davies had a bad day and saw himself replaced by Carlos Cuellar at half time, also Luke Young made way for James Milner but neither could help Villa muscle a goal. Most of the Villa team had a decent game though today but the Londoners were too strong.

Still, there is nothing to be ashamed about with this game, Chelsea were exceptional, not even Man Utd could’ve beaten them today, so we can keep our heads high and go into our next game, home to Pompey, still confident.

Just before half time Maloney doubled his tally and Villa’s lead with a fantastic solo effort that Cech spilled but Villa’s first half party was spoiled when Zat Knight clumsily brought down Michael Ballack (who’d come on for Frank Lampard half way through the half), earning himself a red card and Chelsea a penalty. Shevchenko slotted home the penalty deeeeeeeep into stoppage time of the first half.

Into the second half and Shevchenko showed none of the uselessness that dogged most of his Chelsea career, hitting a superb long range shot that dipped just under the bar, giving Carson no chance. Villa were then gutted as they went down 3-2 after having lead by two goals. This time that man Shevchenko became the creator, feeding a lovely ball to Alex to carve our defence open and the Brazilian slotted home.

But still Villa weren’t giving up and an Ashley Young free-kick into the box was volleyed in by Martin Laursen. It was a goal that the greatest of strikers would’ve been proud of and it brought the game level at 3-3. Seven minutes later the numbers were levelled up too as Carvalho saw red for a two footed tackle on Gabby.

With just four minutes to go you usually see fans begin to leave the stadium but no-one did on this day, expecting to see yet more action and they weren’t let down. There was still two more goals and another red card to come.

Just two minutes remained on the clock when Michael Ballack hit a clinical free kick right into the corner of the net. But Villa got a lifeline in injury time when Ashley Cole was judged to have handled on the line (though I’m not actually convinced it hit his arm) to get him a red card and us a penalty. With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Gareth Barry refused to cave under the pressure and hammered a superb penaty into the goal to finish off the thriller of all thrillers. Stephen King eat your heart out.

Fancy reliving it? Here’s a video of it I found on Megavideo.com

Will we get all that excitement again today? Only time can tell you that. Even Mystic Meg and Russell Grant won’t be daring enough to claim to know the outcome of this one beforehand. But wtf, let’s predict anyway! I’m going for a 3-2 Villa win and for Man City to hold Liverpool to a 1-1 draw, taking us top of the Premiership and onto Cloud Nine! Anyone else fancy venturing a guess? Comment away. Let’s see if you are as much of a dreamer as me!

For those statistics lovers;
- it’s been 85 home games unbeaten for Chelsea, making it four and a half years since they last lost at The Bridge.
- Villa are unbeaten in the last five meetings with Chelsea, including the 4-4 draw and a 2-0 home win last season.
- Villa have won their last three Premiership games and not lost in four.
- Chelsea are, alongside Liverpool, the only unbeaten teams this season, in fact Chelsea haven’t lost a Premiership game in 27 games.
- Chelsea are possibly missing the following: Essien, Drogba, Deco, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole and Alex.
- Villa are just missing Wilfred Bouma, having named the same starting line-up for EVERY league game so far this season.

It is believed to be known, as well as things can be known that happened 134 years ago, that four members of the nearby church, who were part of it’s cricket team, were looking for a game to play during the winter months. Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood had just witnessed a game of football on a meadow on Heathfield Road and under a gas light there they agreed to form a football club. The conversation led to a choice of name, the first option of using the church’s name being discarded when they looked across the road and saw a house named Ason Villa.

Soon after, the first game for Villa was played, against Aston Brook St Mary’s Rugby team and it was agreed between the sides to play the first half as rugby and the second half as football. Our boys won the game 1-0 thanks to a Jack Hughes second half goal, getting us off to winning ways that would continue for a large part of our first 30 years.

Aston Villa was born.

49 The lads of the lamp

One Birmingham day, early in 1874, legend has it that four young men stopped under the flickering light of a Victorian gas lamp and discussed the idea of forming a football club. They stood on the junction of Heathfield Road and Lozells Lane, near a large town house called Aston Villa and opposite the imposing red-brick bulk of the local Wesleyan Chapel where all were regular attenders. They already played cricket for the chapel team but wanted to find some winter exercise. Much impressed by a game of football they had just watched on a nearby meadow, the lads decided to start a team, taking the name by which the area – thanks to the house a few yards away - had come informally to be known – Aston Villa. Within a quarter of a century, the club they formed was the most famous in the world – how’s that for “growing the brand.”

West Ham currently sit in fifth place on 12 points, so although it is possible, the chances of it are extremely slim. They need Villa and Chelsea to draw, Liverpool to lose or draw, Arsenal to lose or draw AND they need to beat Bolton by a seven goal margin. My advice is to stick a pound on it at your local bookies and if it comes up you will be laughing all the way to the Bahamas! I’m not giving you the pound back when it doesn’t happen though, so do one!

Arsenal are in fourth, also on 12 points, so they need a similar string of events to Wham, but they only need to beat Sunderland by 2 goals. Still unlikely but infinitely more likely than their fellow Londoners.

In third place sits the Mighty Villans, just one point of the leaders. We need to beat Chelsea and for Man City to get at least a point at home to Liverpool. That doesn’t sound like the hardest task, I hear you say, but then take into account that Chelsea haven’t lost at Stamford Bridge for four and a half years! However, if the pre-match reports are correct, they will be without Terry, Deco, Essien, Drogba and Cole, so if ever there is a chance it is now. Fingers crossed.

In second is Liverpool, on level points with Chelsea, so they need to win and hope Chelsea don’t or win by 5 more goals than them.

Currently top is Roman Abramovich’s boys with 14 points. To stay top they need to win and Liverpool not to spank Man City or draw and Liverpool draw or lose. A loss will definitely take them off top, no matter what other results occur.

So Sunday will be a very exciting day, us Villans need to keep one eye/ear on our game and one on Man City v Liverpool. There’s a snooker club a few miles from me that may well have the game on on C+ Sports, so I’ll be watching or failing that listening in on Radio WM.

PS For the stats fans and internet scourers out there: when were we last top of the Premiership? and/or when did we last have a mathematical chance of getting there?

Harewood’s goal was excellent last night, he recieved a headed down ball from a goal kick, took it well and turned, the steamed round the Litex defender ad hit it across the goal into the far corner. But other than that it was a game more about wasted chances for him. As everyone knows, Villa create a lot of chances, even against top four sides, so scoring against Litex Lovech should’ve been easy by comparison. The team had 18 shots, only 5 of which were on target.

It’s not just about last night though, the QPR game saw Marlon very heavily criticised by fans, whereas a year ago fans were singing his name and praising his super-sub abilities.

So what do you think? Is Marlon good enough to get more of a run in the team or should we let Delfouneso have a chance to prove himself? Should we sell Harewood in January and replace him?

The team that started the first leg was as follows:
Friedel
L Young - Cuellar - Laursen - Shorey
Gardner - Barry - Reo-Coker - Petrov - Milner
Agbonlahor

John Carew and Ashley Young were both absent from the game and their presence was greatly missed. Ashley gives Villa a dimension that no other player can offer so well, he attacks defenders and scares the shit out of them, then cuts inside and either lets fly with a shot or dinks a perfectly weighted pass or cross for the boys to get onto. We have many other talented wingers at the club but none can hold a candle to Ashley (in fact, very few in the whole Premiership can; Ronaldo and Joe Cole are all that spring to mind). Carew was also a massive loss to us that night as he holds the ball up excellently and is also Young’s main target man.

So who should start the second leg? Everyone is fit (except Bouma of course), everyone is eligible and, hopefully, everyone is up for it. Goalies available are Brad Friedel, the first choice keeper so far this season; Brad Guzan, just one rocky appearance so far in the QPR embarrassment; and Stuart Taylor, seemingly out of favour and I fully expect him to move on in January, he is more than capable of a successful career as a first choice keeper for a lower half Prem club or a top half Championship side.

Full backs are limited, with new boys Luke Young and Nicky Shorey almost automatic choices, their only replacements being the midfielders Barry and Gardner. Centre backs are not so easy to pick, very few would opt for Zat Knight, but then it’s a tough decision to choose two out of Carlos Cuéllar, Martin Laursen and Curtis Davies. Stephen O’Halloran is also available but isn’t yet pushing into the first team.

Midfield is undoubtedly our strong point, we have great strength in depth here. Gareth Barry is getting back to the form that made him the hottest news of the entire summer; Stiliyan Petrov is now playing the way we were constantly assured by Celtic fans that he was capable of; Nigel Reo-Coker is turning out to be more versatile than anyone (myself included) gave him credit for; Craig Gardner is a good bloke to have around but sadly not quite first team material; Ashley Young, for me, is the first name on the teamsheet, start there and build a team around the hero; James Milner is still trying to convince the gaffer of his first team credentials so you can rely on a strong effort from him; Steve Sidwell would be in a similar position but unfortunately for the lad he will struggle to get into the team with Barry still around, it’s a bit of a kick in the teeth for him really as his main motivation to leave Chelsea was being in this situation; Moustapha Salifou is a huge fan favourite but again will struggle to get into the team, through no lacking of his own, just through the brilliance of those around him; Wayne Routledge is a capable winger and useful to have in case of injuries and as a sub but I don’t see him starting many, if any, games this season; and Isiah Osbourne is another Villa fan, like Gardner, Knight and Agbon, but he will sadly see very little football for the new improved Villa.

Up front we have the big man, John Carew, another name that is almost an automatic choice for me, a vital target for Young and Milner/Reo-Coker; Gabriel Agbonlahor, joint top scorer in the Prem so far, along with Carew and Zaki (Wigan), a whippet capable of making even veteran defenders shit their shorts; Marlon Harewood came under very heavy criticism after the QPR game, which for me was a little harsh but I do agree that he hasn’t quite got it to be a starter; Nathan Delfouneso, maybe it’s his time to shine as the ’super-sub’, not that I think Harewood should be ignored but maybe give them both a chance from game to game.

So with that essay of a players list done, it’s time for me to show you mine and then you show me yours. Here goes:

Friedel
L Young - Davies - Laursen - Shorey
(maybe Cuellar once I’ve seen more of him & Bouma when he’s fit)
Milner - Barry - Reo-Coker - A Young
(I opted for giving Milner a start to show what he’s capable of and to use Coker over Petrov as he can defend better, as we are only really defending a lead)
Carew - Agbonlahor

What’s your opinions? Click comment and let us know, the more experimental the better!

[Added after kick off]
Actual starting line-up:
Friedel
Young - Cuellar - Knight - Shorey
Milner - Petrov - Salifou - Routledge
Young - Harewood

Looks like O’Neill has got the very much in mind, Gareth Barry and John Carew not even featuring on the bench. Cuellar, Knight, Salifou, Routledge, Milner and Harewood getting a chance to prove theirselves tonight.

• Stiliyan Petrov finally wins over his critics (The Mirror / Tribal Football / Team Talk)
• Villa ain’t proved nothing yet, the real test is next weekend (Daily Mail / Tribal Football)
• Sunderland game opinions (Independent / iFutbal / The Mirror
• How far Villa have come (Vital Football)

Aston Villa 2-1 Sunderland
After changing the team around in midweek and losing to QPR, O’Neill reverts back to the same team that has started every Premier League game this season. Nobody thought Nigel Reo-Coker could be a decent right midfielder (myself included) but he’s proving everyone wrong so far and is even keeping our big summer splash-out signing, James Milner, on the bench. Villa started the game strongest and were hitting Sunderland with warnings throughout the first ten minutes, but they were caught on the break when Steed Malbranque slipped a beauty of a through ball to Djibril Cisse and he turned and finished clinically. It was the kind of ball that strikers dream of. Villa are determined this season not to let these slip ups get them down and came straight back fighting. Ashley Young earnt a free-kick that he took himself and, with a helping hand from a sneaky Laursen duck, he buried it beautifully. 1-1. Game on. Though the possession was evenly split, it was Villa who looked most like they would make something out of it and just over the half hour mark they did. Another Ashley Young free-kick, this time it canoned into the wall and fell to Petrov, the Bulgarian slid the ball into the box and John Carew put it into the back of the net with a very nice ’side-heel’. The second half didn’t quite live up to the first and, after ride a small storm, Villa held on to the win to send them third in the league.

Everton 0-2 Liverpool
The Merseyside derby was won by the big brother this time and the game was yet another of these clashes with a red card. Tim Cahill got an early bath for a bad challenge on Alonso coupled with a disrespectful attitude to the ref combining in him seeing red when it could’ve been yellow. Enough of the villain though, on to the hero, Fernando Torres got both the goals in this victory, proving that you can’t let him go unmarked for one second. Both goals see Torres lose his marker and be in teh right place at the right time. Liverpool’s good form relies very heavily on this man and Gerrard though so Rafa needs to pray they stay fit.

Fulham 1-2 West Ham
Both these teams are playing inconsistently this season, showing that on their day they can beat most but the off days will see them being defeated. Carlton Cole and Etherington got the goals for West Ham, Andy Johnson got sent off for silly yellows and Danny Murphy got Fulham’s consolation.

Man Utd 2-0 Bolton
Referee Rob Styles is again in the headlines with his penalty decision against ex-Villan J Lloyd Samuel who clearly won the ball from Ronaldo. We’re all only too well aware that United get the decisions at Old Trafford though and it was a decision that could well have given them the points. Wayne Rooney doubled their lead with a neat finish but if the first goal hadn;t gone in you could maybe see Bolton holding on for a point.

Boro 0-1 Baggies
Middlesbrough are playing well in games and not winning them this season, which will be very frustrating to Gareth Southgate. He has made them into a decent team who can play some good football but getting the right result seems to be evading them at the moment. West Brom move up to top of the bottom half with this win and they’ll be loving being so far away from the drop zone.

Newcastle 1-2 Blackburn
Bookies must be giving short odds now of Michael Owen still being a Newcastle player this time next year. The controversies up north are clearly affecting the team and it seems like Michael Owen’s marksmanship is their only prayer at the moment. Joe Kinnear has just been appointed as manager up there so he will have a huge job to try and turn this team around amidst all the off-the-field troubles. First off though he needs to see out an old touchline ban so he won’t be right where he wants for another few weeeks yet.

Stoke 0-2 Chelsea
League leaders hold on to their place with a methodical 2-0 win over Premiership new-boys Stoke. The second goa was a bit of a gift but with or without that you could never see Stoke getting anything out of this game.