Aston Villa v Chelsea, Sat 27 April, 8pm | Vital Football

Aston Villa v Chelsea, Sat 27 April, 8pm

Thomas Holte

Thomas Holte

Vital Football Legend
Roll on this forthcoming Saturday for yet another cup final for us in the search for 3 valuable points to ensure we keep our position in the league to guarantee Champion League football next season.

A concern I have is how will the 5-0 thrashing at Arsenal last night affect the Chelsea players? It will either have them pumped up or we play against a fragile minded group of players.

Time will tell.
 
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Pangloss said:
Unfortunately I cannot make anymore home games this season so cannot bring my luck.

I think we need to be mindful of what Chelsea did to us in the cup under the lights. This won't be easy as they will surely be looking to respond to last nights obliteration.
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We could have been 2 up before Chelsea touched the ball but we never scored them.
unai will have a plan to demoralise them, this is our chance to put this CL qualification to bed.
 
Another massive game in a season of massive games.

Just win. I don't care how although we have been very good in our last two PL games and if we carry on that form it should be enough.

Be interesting to see which way Unai will go bearing in mind WCD is back.
 
sirdennis said:
Another massive game in a season of massive games.

Just win. I don't care how although we have been very good in our last two PL games and if we carry on that form it should be enough.

Be interesting to see which way Unai will go bearing in mind WCD is back.
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WCD in Bailey drops to the bench - especially with Bailey having that knee strapping on last Sunday. Chance to keep an unchanged defence, and Bailey off the bench - both decent for us IMO
 
I'd guess it will be Doug in for Diaby and push Youri a bit further forward. Not likely to see any other changes after a week off, unless there are any injuries I'm not aware of.
Chelsea looked bloody awful last night, but I'm concerned they cant be that bad again and they may be out to prove a point after the backlash from their fans. With it being a Saturday night time kick off and plenty having been on the beers all day, it could well be a tasty atmosphere, especially if we do get that first goal. Think it will be a close game, but if Unai has us at it from the start I think we can get the 3 points
 
We need to be wary of Chelsea as they do have the ability to click (seemingly by luck rather than judgement) but I expect Emery to have a strong plan for them after they spanked us in the cup.
 
I think Chelsea will be utterly demoralised after the thrashing by Arsenal and their confidence at an all time low.

If we can score one or two in the first 25 minutes of this game I can see them capitulating and another hammering to follow.

( I shall be less jingoistic on my prediction in the Erod however :LOL:)
 
garygaryshaw said:
I'd guess it will be Doug in for Diaby and push Youri a bit further forward. Not likely to see any other changes after a week off, unless there are any injuries I'm not aware of.
Chelsea looked bloody awful last night, but I'm concerned they cant be that bad again and they may be out to prove a point after the backlash from their fans. With it being a Saturday night time kick off and plenty having been on the beers all day, it could well be a tasty atmosphere, especially if we do get that first goal. Think it will be a close game, but if Unai has us at it from the start I think we can get the 3 points
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With more or less a week off I'd be tempted to start the same XI,reward for a great performance against Bournemouth, confidence booster for Diaby and ease Dougie back in after his ban
 
garygaryshaw said:
I'd guess it will be Doug in for Diaby and push Youri a bit further forward. Not likely to see any other changes after a week off, unless there are any injuries I'm not aware of.
Chelsea looked bloody awful last night, but I'm concerned they cant be that bad again and they may be out to prove a point after the backlash from their fans. With it being a Saturday night time kick off and plenty having been on the beers all day, it could well be a tasty atmosphere, especially if we do get that first goal. Think it will be a close game, but if Unai has us at it from the start I think we can get the 3 points
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Under the lights is what you want to say. You just can't beat it.
 
Moose66 said:
With more or less a week off I'd be tempted to start the same XI,reward for a great performance against Bournemouth, confidence booster for Diaby and ease Dougie back in after his ban
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Nah.
WCD has to play.

I'd sacrifice Diaby and do the usual swap with Bailey or other on 60 mins. The only attacking option to bring on v Bournemouth was Mad dog Duran. I don't think a draw would be a disaster so WCD, Youri and SJM would be a more solid build the base in game and if needed with Diaby and Mad dog as an attacking option. You don't bring WCD on to win a game you start him .
 
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We have beat arsenal and Bournemouth convincingly. In normal situations you would stick with a winning team..

But Doug has had rest. So he is fresh.

Massive that we can do those performances without him though.

Not sure. But I think Youri is slowly becoming our undroppable player.
 
I would put McGinn on man-marking duties with Palmer and hopefully leave Douggie free to play forward more (and give less free kicks away near the penalty area!), but of course Emery is an elite level football tactician and I am regularly out-flanked playing Hungry Hippos, so obviously I'll defer to whatever he decides.
 
Melon Donkey said:
Nah.
WCD has to play.

I'd sacrifice Diaby and do the usual swap with Bailey or other on 60 mins. The only attacking option to bring on v Bournemouth was Mad dog Duran. I don't think a draw would be a disaster so WCD, Youri and SJM would be a more solid build the base in game and if needed with Diaby and Mad dog as an attacking option. You don't bring WCD on to win a game you start him .
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Mad Dog is the right nickname for him. The Agent of Chaos was alright but Mad Dog is so spot on.
 
Villan57 said:
This to take us 9 points clear of Spurs, get it done Villa.
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Another one of these games where a top team puts them to the sword and piles on more misery.

At this stage, every game is just another measure of where we are. Unai didn't have them looking at Arsenal as a free hit and TBF you don't get free hits chasing 4th. We had to beat Bournemouth that's expected and Saturday is also expected TBH.

I don't expect to get 12 out of 12 in the remaining run but 7-9 points is what we need to achieve.
 
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