Blue chews-daze: In-form Aston Villa away is…

…sure to be a real tester. When I look back, it was exactly the case this time last year as Villa came into form…and we lost.

v Aston Villa

Villa Park

Haaland fit but we have three doubts that I’m sticking on the bench for that very reason; as they continued their recovery from various niggles and had one or two more training sessions before my blog posting release.

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which for me, blog wise, was our 3-2 home win against Ipswich Town: 9/11.

A fluid 4-2-3-1 / / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

_____________________Haaland(VC)_________________

__Doku_________________________________Ndiaye__

______________________Cherki____________________

__________Fernandez_____________________________

______________________________Anderson_________

Gvardiol________________________________Khusanov

___________Guehi(VC)_______________Dias(C)_________

___________________Donnarumma(VC)_______________

Subs: Rulli, Ait-Nouri, Lewis, Nunes, O’Reilly, Bouaddi, Kovacic, Foden and Elias.

Gianluigi in net.

With doubts surrounding both our regular left and right-wing backs, I’m guessing a starting back-4 of Josko, Marc, Ruben and Abdukodir.

Elliot to be our deepest midfielder but with Enzo not too far away and despite Foden having a blinder in midweek, I think we’ll see Rayan-C- given the ‘number 8’ role this afternoon.

Jeremy left, Iliman right and Erling up front ‘n’ centre.

Geronimo continues to provide keeper insurance; Rayan-A-, Rico, Matheus and Nico give us four defensive replacement options; albeit all flanking defenders / attacking wing-backs. Midfielders / wingers in ‘the 9’ come in the shape of Ayyoub, Mateo, Phil and Allan.

Notable absences:

- Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

- Vitor Reis – Not selected and must be rubbing his hands at our up and coming League Cup fixture; where he’ll be hoping, I’m sure, to at least get on the bench against in-form, Premier League opposition.

- Antoine Semenyo – Out for 2 months from 17^th October with a knee injury. All being well, he’ll be back just in time for the busy festive period of fixtures.

Do I agree with Enzo’s (predicted) line-up?

Yep.

Result?

Villa Park has not been a good hunting ground for us at all in recent seasons, and our hosts’ previous seven games have seen them lift impressively - from a somewhat ropey start to their season - with 6 wins, 1 draw and 0 loses; scoring 21 and conceding 7 in all competitions. That deserves a little…“Wow” and 👏👏👏…

Scoring so many goals as they are doing versus us, a side with some question marks over our defending of late, is a cause for concern to say the least. I don’t think I’ll be alone when I say that I expect there to be goals for both sides this afternoon (12:30pm KO BST).

Points in our favour?

1. They’re scoring lots of goals of late but we’ve been doing that all season. In fact, in the league we’ve score almost three times as many as our hosts.

2. I’ve mentioned our issues in defence of late but of that 7-game Aston Villa run which I’ve highlighted, they’ve only kept 2 clean sheets in that time themselves. To use the words 'in fact' once again; while The Villans have conceded 11 league goals this season, we’ve only leaked 7 in 7…and 5 of those came in just two Premier League games.

3. We’ve had an extra day to rest and prepare following both sides’ midweek international fixtures.

However, this is an early kick-off away from home at a ground where, since September 2022, we’ve managed just 1 point from a possible 12 and, as you’ll see if you read on, we’ve got the weather to battle as well as a home side backed by more than three-quarters of the (approximate) 37,000 stadium; a reduced capacity while their North Stand is under construction during the 2026-27 season.

I have been - and still am - leaning slightly towards a City win here but I’ve just swayed back a little towards a draw. I think, fellow Blues, this’ll be a ‘points shared’ outcome.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:

Prediction: Win

Result: Lost

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Storm Boelo ensures that the day of the match will be an ‘orrible one. Hot on the heels of Storm Austen, we have more wet and windy conditions for our Midlands’ fixture. Flipping chilly too with 9C feeling more like 7C. I suppose it could be worse for fans in the stands, we could be kicking off later in the day when the rain gets heavier and the wind even stronger; although I think we’ll see some of that in the second half as it begins to ramp up for the afternoon (I hope all that construction gear inside the stadium is well secured). 🧥🧣🧤☕🥧🍺⚽