Someone wrote a few years ago that I only posted directly after a match when we lost. I think that was under different times when things were not right at the Club. Things are very much right at Aston Villa these days. And I wrote yesterday that I wasn't convinced Arsenal would win the League and it was just because they'd had such a good 2024 that was surely going to come to an end soon, but also a little because I think Manchester City have so much more than them. Manchester City not winning the League would be an injustice.  Today we showed why I don't think Arsenal will win it. In th ..read more

I'm not convinced Arsenal will win the League. I don't think they're going to choke, but I do think they will lose more than Liverpool and Manchester City between now and the end of the season. I can't see Arteta winning it basically and writing this now is risky. And this also isn't me writing that I think we'll beat them tomorrow. That said, it's not impossible that the team in fifth place beats the team top of the table. But it would be tough and I suspect most would see it as a surprise. And that is mostly down to our form of late, not Arsenal.  But lets go back to my first paragraph ..read more

I was having a conversation with a Spurs fan the other day, like you do. During the chat I had to concede that they'd probably beat us to fourth, but he wasn't sure. I think we were both just not trying to be too arrogant. I think maybe because this isn't familiar territory for either side. Sure, Spurs have spent some time there, but it's not really home for them, like it is for Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. The interesting thing when having this chat with a Spurs fan, was his take on Manchester United and that they could catch us both. And while it's mathematically possible I think ..read more

Things can look a little daunting if you look at the table. Both Spurs and Manchester United have two games in hand on us and if they were to both win those matches, Spurs would be three points ahead of us and Manchester United six points behind us, with six games to go. The thing is, even though things look daunting, I'd rather have the points than the games in hand and if we look at points per game this season, Spurs are getting 1.9 while Manchester United are getting 1.6. If we, for fun, assume they get these points with the two games in hand, then Spurs will end up one point ahead of us a ..read more

I have to tell you I like a little attitude in a player. But if you are going to walk around and act that way, you also have to deliver. Very few players can get away with it. And arguably, the toughest role on the pitch to have is that of striker, so if you are going to have that attitude, you best score the goals. If you don't score the goals and you have that attitude, you're not going to last long.  I write this knowing nothing but there was speculation in January that Jhon Duran wanted out because he wasn't getting enough game time and thought he was better than that. Now, I don't k ..read more

I know it's early, but the sun is shining where I am and proper football is back. And it's one of those days where we get to watch four games, at the same time as trying to get a nice dinner ready for everyone. So we need to be optimised and efficient today. So lets get down to it. If Spurs win in the earlier match today, they'll go above us into fourth. That's how tight it is now and there are only nine gams to go for us. Spurs have ten.  It's the business end of the season but at the same time, there is so much of it still to go. But this is when a slip might be seen as a disaster by s ..read more

Someone put a poll out on Twitter recently asking if you'd prefer to see England win the World Cup or your team win the League. An Aston Villa fan replied that he'd rather see us win a corner over anything to do with England. I did chuckle at that. And I know I come round to this every time there is a break for international football, but it's essentially pointless and the FA and by association all of us have made it so much bigger than what it needs to be. I actually think Ben White knows the score. It's a waste of his time and probably impacts his ability to perform for his employers. And h ..read more

The thing with business is, you have ups and downs. Last weekend, we had a down and Spurs had a big up. Yesterday, Spurs had a down and as things stand right now, we are two points above them in the League in fourth place.  And yes, this is just another way for me to get into the post that we are firmly in the business end of the season. I also think I tried to mention once or twice last week, before the game I'd like to add, that whatever the result last weekend, it wasn't going to define our season, just last Sunday. And it wasn't that I thought we were going to lose, but I suspected i ..read more

A little like my first school disco in 1983, some things are best forgotten and never brought up again. But it's hard to sometimes not think about them, but all I'll say is this; we're fourth in the Premier League with ten games to go and if we win tonight we find ourselves in the quarter finals of a European competition. Yes, that first dance was not great, but it got better.  So tonight is massive. Doesn't actually get much bigger. I mean it could do, with the five possible matches that could follow tonight if we win, but you know what I mean. It's European football against a big side ..read more

I think this is the third week in a row I've mentioned that we're very much in the business end of the season, so writing that Spurs is an important match doesn't really seem to do it justice. We know this is an important match. If we win tomorrow, it's then eight points between us and Spurs. Yes, they'll have a game in hand, but they'll need to win that and we'll still have that eight point gap at 3pm tomorrow. And if that happens, you might even start to see some posts about how we could finish in the top four. There are other things I'm going to write about, but we need that gap first and ..read more