VILLA 4-2 Bolton Wanderers

By: Chris | December 13th, 2008

Aston Villa move into the top four in the Premier League this evening following a convincing win at home to Bolton Wanderers – despite a sickening performance from alleged “referee” Lee Probert.

Following Villa’s win at Goodison Park last Sunday, Arsenal’s dropped points at Middlesbrough meant Villa had yet another chance to leapfrog the Gunners into a Champions League spot.

James Milner made a surprisingly fast recovery from flu and started the game as part of our now steady starting eleven. Brad Friedel kept goal behind Luke Young, Martin Laursen, Curtis Davies and Carlos Cuellar, and Ashley Young, Gareth Barry, Stiliyan Petrov, Steve Sidwell and Milner formed an attacking five-man midfield behind Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Things got off to a ropey start despite tidy Villa possession. The latest in a long line of questionable offside calls (this time definitely wrong) against Agbonlahor led directly to a Bolton attack. Villa were caught sleeping and Johan Elmander swept Bolton into an early lead with a cheeky finish.

But Villa are increasingly proving that we’re dangerous when wounded, and proceeded to put in an impressive and convincing performance.

Our equaliser was the beginning of a superlative performance from young Gabriel Agbonlahor. A long, long through ball from Martin Laursen finally found Gabby onside (even in the eyes of the incompetent linesman) and the striker adeptly headed the ball in front of himself and thumped a left-footed finish past cheating time-waster Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Not long afterwards Villa turned their dominance into the lead. Martin Laursen looked to have headed past the Bolton goalkeeper, but replays showed that Wanderers striker Kevin Davies got the unfortunate (HA!) telling touch.

Enter Lee Probert. Having already turned down a blatant free kick when a Bolton defender (possibly Steinsson – I was too busy calling Probert names my mother would be ashamed of) hacked Ashley Young down on the edge of the area, the tool in yellow managed to not give the Most Obvious Penalty of All Time Ever when ex-Villa man Gary Cahill batted away a corner with his hand.

Cahill can expect a call from the Team GB volleyball coach on Monday morning. Probert will be hearing from Keith Hackett – hopefully with his marching orders. Utter disgrace.

In the second half, Villa were magnificent. Gareth Barry pulled the strings in midfield and Ash Young and Agbonlahor were phenomenal – and I don’t say that lightly. They were, frankly, world class (yes, even Gabby). The pair of them added the goals for 4-1, Gabby’s set up by a double-marked Young and Young’s brilliantly assisted by an effervescent Agbonlahor.

A late goal from Davies was totally undeserved for Bolton, but by that point they couldn’t see us for dust.

It was a great performance from the lads and an opportunity well taken. We’re fourth in the Premier League and we’ve won two on the spin for the first time in what feels like forever. Let’s hope we can keep the momentum up against Hamburg and West Ham.

Up the Villa!