Match Preview: Aston Villa v West Bromwich Albion

By: Chris | January 8th, 2009

Aston Villa v West Bromwich Albion
Premier League
Villa Park
Sunday 10th January 2009, 12.45pm

Aston Villa’s first Premier League in 2009 is an exciting looking derby with local rivals West Bromwich Albion. Albion make the short trip to Villa Park on the back of some good results, while Villa are riding high in the Champions League spots.

Premier League Form Guide

Aston Villa: DWWWDW

Three wins on the bounce for the first time in what seems like forever were completed by a hard-fought but fortuitous win at West Ham United. This followed wins over Everton and Bolton Wanderers. On Boxing Day we drew with Arsenal thanks to Zat Knight’s fantastic late leveller, and 2008 came to a pleasant conclusion with an away win at Hull City. The New Year began with a 2-1 win at Gillingham in the FA Cup 3rd Round.

West Bromwich Albion: LDLWLW

Before being dragged into an FA Cup replay by Peterborough, Olbiyun’s form had showed signs of improvement. Defeats to Wigan Athletic, Sunderland and Chelsea were offset by impressive wins over Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. The draw was at home to Portsmouth.

Team News

Following a recent bout of injuries, things look a little more promising for Villa. Martin Laursen, Carlos Cuellar and Gareth Barry all hope to be fit for Saturday’s game. Gabriel Agbonlahor should return from illness, while Wilfred Bouma and John Carew are still injured. Not heard a thing about Luke Young so I assume he’s shaken off his knock.

Villa will probably start with Brad Friedel in goal and Nigel Reo-Coker (or Carlos Cuellar), Curtis Davies, Martin Laursen (or Zat Knight) and Luke Young right to left across the back. Ashley Young, Gareth Barry, Steve Sidwell, Stiliyan Petrov and James Milner in the midfield and Agbonlahor up top, with Milner and Young providing support.

Gianni Zuiverloon and James Morrison are injury doubts for West Brom. Tony Mowbray has stated that Filipe Teixeira and Abdoulaye Meite are a couple of weeks from fitness, while Craig Beattie will be available following his manager’s decision not to loan him out again this season. Ishmael Miller is out for the long term, and Neil Clement is not fit.

Ex-Villa men Scott Carson and Luke Moore will be looking to get one over on the club they disappointed so badly for.

Why Albion at home is a must-win

Villa are sitting pretty in fourth, but it’s going to be a battle to stay there. That means we basically need to win all our home games and as many aways as possible – or, given our usual trick, all our aways and as many homes as possible. No disrespect to Albion (seriously), but if we can’t beat them at home we’re going to really be up against it for the rest of the season. Equaling or bettering Arsenal week by week is the best approach.

Let’s not forget that this is a local derby (more for them than us, but hey ho), and it’s always embarrassing to lose those. I’d especially like Villa to give Albion a hiding because of their song about Gabby Agbonlahor’s mum, because Scott Carson owes us about 15 points and because they’re yam-yams.

Betting