Villa Team News:
Martinez
Cash – Konsa – Mings – Digne
Kamara – McGinn – Guessand – Buendia – Rogers
Watkins
Bench / Substitutes:
Bizot, Lindelof, Torres, Maatson, Bogarde, Jimoh, Elliott, Sancho, Malen.
Match Preview: Sunderland v Aston Villa – Time to Break the Duck?
As a Villa supporter, you’d be forgiven for feeling a bit upside down looking at the table after four games. If someone had told you Villa would be 19th and Sunderland sitting pretty in 7th, you’d have thought they’d had one too many in The Aston Tavern. Yet, here we are – and the pressure is already mounting, even with the season still in its infancy.
Sunderland, fresh from promotion, have been the surprise package so far. They’ve made the Stadium of Light a tough place to visit, notching up wins against West Ham and Brentford, and even pinching a point away at Palace. Their only league defeat came at Burnley, and they’ve shown a clinical edge in front of goal – five goals from just nine shots on target. Whether they can keep that up is another matter, but they’ll fancy their chances against a Villa side still searching for their first league goal.
For us, it’s been a frustrating start. After last season’s near-miss with Champions League football, expectations were sky-high. But so far, we’ve looked a shadow of the side that competed with a number of top domestic and European teams. Four league games, no goals – it’s a stat that stings. Harvey Elliott finally broke our duck in the EFL Cup midweek, but it wasn’t enough to avoid a penalty shootout defeat to Brentford.
Embed from Getty ImagesUnai Emery will be desperate to see Villa click into gear. The likes of Ollie Watkins, who bagged 17 last season, are yet to get off the mark. The longer the drought goes on, the more the pressure builds – and nobody wants to be remembered as the side that couldn’t score in their opening five games.
Despite Sunderland’s strong start, there’s a sense they might be punching above their weight, while Villa are surely due a change in fortune. The stats suggest there’s not much between the sides, and with the monkey finally off our back thanks to Elliott’s goal, maybe – just maybe – this is the moment we turn the corner.
It might not be pretty, and it might be nervy, but Villa have enough quality to edge it. Here’s hoping we can finally get the season up and running and remind everyone why we were so highly rated just a few months ago.
Prediction: Villa to nick it in a tight one. Up the Villa!