Blue chews-daze: Bang in form and high in confidence

We are too.

Typical…

With it not being a happy hunting ground for us in recent seasons I was monitoring, with a certain sense of glee I have to admit, Aston Villa’s struggling start to the season; for no other reason than our up and coming fixture against them on Sunday 26^th October. I suppose their poor start was never going to last but I was at least hoping they’d still be struggling to find their footing by the time we rocked up at their place.

Sadly, no. D D W W W in the league has lifted them from the table’s gloomy zone to within just 3 points of 5^th.

Game on then!

v Aston Villa

Villa Park

With injury news from the pre-match press conference a little vague to say the least, with the exception being an update on Abdukodir Khusanov; this predicted line-up and subs could be a little tricky.

One online source even had Rayan Ait-Nouri out injured once again after appearing on the bench in Spain last week; saying that Pep informed us in his pre-match press conference of the Algerian’s unavailability. I didn’t hear it; I’ve played that section back once more with subtitles switched on and I can’t find any other source that has the left-wing back down as injured. In fact, one other source said that the 24-year-old trained ahead of this fixture. Weird…

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11.

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-6-1):

____________________Haaland____________________

Doku____________________________________Savinho

_________Silva(C)_________________Foden__________

____________________Kovacic____________________

O’Reilly___________________________________Nunes

__________Gvardiol_____________Dias(VC)__________

__________________Donnarumma__________________

Subs: Trafford, Ait-Nouri, Lewis, Ake, Stones, Reijnders, Bobb, Cherki and Marmoush.

Gigi continues in goal.

With alternatives available all over the defence but particularly at left-wing back; with him being given a rest in midweek I’m going for Nico-O- to be fully recovered and available to start this afternoon. Josko, Ruben and a reworked Matheus make up the rest of the back line.

I’m going for Matteo to start in the Rodri / Gonzalez position, with Jeremy, Bernardo, Phil and Savinho ahead of the Croatian international.

Erling continues up front.

James is reserve keeper; Rayan-A-, Rico and John make up three defenders on the side; with Rico further pushing his point in midweek that he sees himself more of an attacking midfielder. Tijjani is the sole, readymade midfielder on the bench; Oscar and Rayan-C give us two attacking wide options and Omar is reserve striker / occasional wide man also.

Notable absences:

- Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

- Stefan Ortega – Not selected.

- Abdukodir Khusanov – On 24^th October, Pep said of Khusanov, “I think he's close to coming back, but still, I think he's not ready. He had an injury in a dangerous, dangerous position in his body”.

- Kalvin Phillips – Not selected.

- Nico Gonzalez – Was being assessed at the time of the pre-match press conference. He could be in the matchday squad and he may even start. However, I’ve got to go with my gut feeling and say that if there’s a doubt, then with him being Rodri’s first ‘go to’ cover when our number-1 defensive midfielder is unavailable; it might be prudent to not risk the 23-year-old. I would guess that would be the management team’s thinking too. Of course, it all depends – he could be fully recovered from his foot / feet knock.

- Rodri – Remains out with a hamstring injury. Unknown return date.

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

No issues with that whatsoever.

I could, just to put it out there, post an alternative that I believe is a realistic possibility this afternoon and not a bad shout either…

____________________Haaland____________________

Doku____________________________________Savinho

__________Silva(C)________________Lewis__________

_____________________Stones____________________

O’Reilly___________________________________Nunes

___________Gvardiol______________Dias(VC)_________

__________________Donnarumma__________________

Result?

I’ve already said quite a lot of what I would usually slot into this section of my blog posting but in addition and up to Thursday afternoon, I want to be honest with you and say that I’d already nailed down my result prediction as being a draw. I’m now bringing out the claw hammer.

What changed my mind was Aston Villa’s (surprise?) defeat away to Dutch side, Go Ahead Eagles, on Thursday night; especially with the English side taking the lead as early as the 4^th minute. That, despite finding some domestic form and refound confidence, shows me that vulnerabilities still exist and surface within The Villans.

Then there’s this…

Let’s be honest, if this situation was reversed we’d be havin’ a right ol’ moan about it and perhaps some Villa fans are, I dunno. 🤷‍♀️ By the time we come face-to-face on Sunday, 2:00pm (GMT) KO, we will have had a full 4-½ day’s break; while the home side will have had just 2-½. Of course, it’s not our fault that we’re in the Champions League and they’re in the Europa League but that extra-2 days can make all the difference when trying to prepare for a top flight football match.

Part of me is screaming inside, “Don’t do it, you fool! No! Stick with the draw prediction, man!”. And perhaps choosing to ignore that still-noisy voice would be foolish.

But call me a fool if you will; I’m going for us to take home all-3 points. It’s a City win from me.

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

Prediction: Lose

Result: Lost

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)