Stottie

Bournemouth did it with cooperative refereeing, i.e., someone willing to keep the cards in the pocket. If we'd had a stricter ref or a homer in that game and the cards had started coming out around 30' or so with the score still at 1-1, we'd have made more of a game of it. As it was, Tyler Adams etc. just kicked us off the park. Bournemouth lead the league in fouls committed, so our lads should have seen seen it coming. fwiw, we're third lowest in fouls conceded and third highest in fouls against this season. We're not a dark arts team any more. The most fouled team is Villa. We are definitely vulnerable to counters/fast breaks and losing the ball in midfield but Liverpool and Man City demonstrated that better than Fulham did.

Harvey Barnes has six career goals and five assists in thirteen games vs. Villa, the most against any opponent. Isak is three in four against them.

We just destroyed Palace and their high line, and PSG made big hay on Villa's in that first half, so quietly confident about this one, especially with our form. The points cushion to them helps as well.

Don't mind the result because the game was mad, but it might have been different with Savage on my river. I cannot stand him. The criminal bit would be if Man U won this, got into the CL, and then got more money than us for the CL regardless of progress due to some coefficient bollox.

A wet Tuesday night in Aston. Time to test that age-old theory

We barely got a kick in the away fixture. Isak went off after twenty and we looked lost the whole game. 0.02 xG and needed Guehi to put it in for us. Nearly held on though for what would have been absolute daylight robbery. Recent form and SJP probably mean this one will play out differently though. I certainly hope it does!

13 league goals for us is one more than Maxi and level with HBA. Not bad for someone it's been argued we shouldn't have signed because it gave us two left wingers. I get the "PSR means you can only have one nice thing, not two nice things" argument, but look at the attacking options Villa have on their bench. The "its only Harvey Barnes" lot are as blind as Townsend saying he lacks goals. Barnes got 13 in the Leicester relegation season, one more than Liam Delap is on now. Young, that many in a season in a struggling team, and available for a relegation price makes it pretty much a no-brainer for whoever can get it over the line. Arsenal should probably sign him, but he mightn't be glamourous enough for them. He'd have to be badly advised and/or barking mad to go to Man U.

Four wins in a row and some helpful other results have things looking very good now. With the game in hand, its 100% in our hands, with no reason to question what the team can do. No Eddie today, but the lads still put the work in and did the business.

Our second top scorer now, 8 in about 12.5 games' of minutes. It was great anticipation for him to follow the first one in, something Isak didn't do, and then great strength and composure for the second.

I like Villa for the squad they've assembled and Emery. I wasn't talking about a Mackem-like subset of their fanbase, who do not deserve our attention. The self-styled bantzmeister behind the original bedsheets got featured in the paper and was basically just a claret and blue Mackem. We have our own arseholes, like Tony Blair, and they will only multiply the more successful we become.

Eight game form table. No real standout teams there. Man City looked like they couldn't be arsed on Sunday. They still have great players but are not playing as the team they were. The "its the KDB farewell tour" news did not motivate them either. 9 goals scored (joint fourth worst) in their last eight does not bode well for Chelsea, who needed Brentford to miss a couple of sitters to get a point. Villa improving, but still not convincing. Like Chelsea, if we avoid defeat to them, it will go a long way toward securing CL. Id actually quite like Villa to win the CL, they're likeable and there would be the bonus of them and Emery upstaging Liverpool.

Missed opportunity by Roblox or Cadbury Freddos.

Geordie boys... take the piss! Indeed!

Buy some players like Forest and they do you for PSR.

My other comment on today's games relates to Brighton giving up a second yellow when facing nine men. Like their game against Forest, they don't do bad and only seem to do atrocious.

Great win for Villa who kind of got away with one. Emery clearly had half a mind on PSG and nearly got punished for it. The rotated lads he played got it over the line, but that was very squeaky bum. Forest unlucky. Created many chances in the second half. Some decent ones for Anderson, but he didn't work the keeper. Its something he needs to work on if he wants to be an elite midfielder.

Nearly a Kompany (or Schar) special there.

MGW total quality.

And again. One way traffic. Villa's midfield completely AWOL.

Don't underestimate Nuno. Good chance for Anderson.

Forest missing a CF here, but I wouldn't be surprised if they get back into this like they did at SJP.

Opta predict City to get 66, us to get 65 and Chelsea sixth on 63. Villa get 60. They have us as over 60% chance of top five. Click on predicted at this link https://theanalyst.com/competition/premier-league/table I agree with them and doubt that sixth will get as many as 65 points. Villa would need 17 points from eight games, which they have only managed in one range of eight games, at the very start of the season. Since we play both Villa and Chelsea, avoiding defeat to them will make it harder for them to reach 65. First off though, fingers crossed for a favour from Spurs later on. I'm assuming here of course that City will do whatever and finish above us.

Ha ha Papiss Cisse goal from Sandro. Any win against a team who've won five straight away is a good win. Rejoice!!

That'll do. Didn't give them a sniff or get bullied like some have done at SJP. Not quite clicking for us up front, but more threatening than them and got a goal that was probably deserved, if not by our shooting beforehand. Howay the lads second half!

Bruno is a bigger cartoon character than anyone in Billy the Fish. I bloody love him!