Round 32: Villa vs Man United @ Old Trafford

By: irish_steve | March 28th, 2008

Villa come into this game on the back of a very poor month performance wise. Since the heartbreak of the last minute 1-1 draw with Arsenal on March 1st, Villa’s performances have declined dramatically. In the month of March, Villa have picked up 2 points from a possible 12 and their quest to qualify for Europe could now end in failure. This weekend Villa come up against the team that is 5 points clear at the top of the Premiership and are on the back of a 3 nil hammering of Liverpool.

For Villa to get anything out of this game they have to score at least 1 goal. United very rarely fail to score at home and if Villa can get 1 goal, they are definitely in with a chance. Mellberg returns from his suspension and will replace Craig Gardener who was injured while playing for England’s U21’s on Tuesday night. There are rumors floating about that Martin O’Neill will drop Scott Carson for this game because of a lack of form. If Villa get embarrassed tomorrow while Carson is in goal it could shatter his confidence even further but on the other hand if he starts and puts in a good performance against the champions it could get him back to the type of form he was in earlier in the season.

My only hope is that Villa do not go to Old Trafford, play with 1 up front, and promptly role over and die like so many other teams do when they play United away. If Villa want to be regarded as one of the Premiership’s elite teams they have to act like one and not bow down to the Big 4. Villa’s performances against Arsenal and Liverpool in recent months have been extremely good and if they play that way against United I can see them coming back to Birmingham with a point. I honestly don’t see us beating United tomorrow but if Villa can catch them on an off day anything is possible. I am looking for a spirited, solid performance which hopefully will lead to a turnaround in our fortunes for the remaining 6 games of the season.