Aston Villa

[CANARYKING 634]

Would obviously like to finish  in fourth to give home advantage in the second leg of the play offs, might help with their next game against Leeds

[Sooty57 403]

....or their final home game against us 😉

[kick it off 1,948]

Villa have won 10 straight. They aren't going to give much of a toss which way round the games come. They'd rather have a fresh Grealish, Kodjia, Abraham etc for the two legs after a rest on the final day, than go all guns blazing killing themselves for home advantage. Have a word with yourself. 😉

Edited April 22, 2019 by kick it off

[splendidrush 699]

We're as good as up, and we will be by the time we go to Villa. I don't care who they pick or how they play, I'm not even bothered about the title, for me a point Saturday and it's job done. 

[Surfer 1,547]

We are better than Villa. Looking forward to showing that again. 

[Branston Pickle 3,634]

1 minute ago, splendidrush said:

We're as good as up, and we will be by the time we go to Villa. I don't care who they pick or how they play, I'm not even bothered about the title, for me a point Saturday and it's job done. 

Yup - imo the title would be a nice to have but surely promotion is the thing we want first and foremost.  If we beat Blackburn, we can worry about the title later....but I’m sure we are capable of getting something from Villa.

I don’t think finishing first or second really makes a difference on how we’ll be viewed next season as it’s 99.9% certain everyone will see us as favourites for relegation. We did ok last time we were promoted in second.

[Icecream Snow 761]

Would expect Villa to put a strong side out against Leeds, since they've won ten in a row, got beaten by Leeds in the return fixture, and could meet them in the play off final.

[Bill 1,788]

3 minutes ago, Branston Pickle said:

Yup - imo the title would be a nice to have but surely promotion is the thing we want first and foremost.  If we beat Blackburn, we can worry about the title later....but I’m sure we are capable of getting something from Villa.

eh ?

How can the result NOT have an impact on our winning the title, or not

There is no 'option' there

[Branston Pickle 3,634]

No ‘eh’ needed - we technically only need a point v Blackburn, in case you’d not noticed.  If we win (as we’d hope) the title would be the next focus. But while it’s a nice-to-have, IMO it’s not the be all and end all.  Clear enough for you?

[CanaryChris 146]

Got to think that AV would want to put one past Leeds, keeping their unbeaten run going and keeping Leeds' losing streak going at the same time.

They may rest players against us? Not sure on that one, double edged sword. Players will tell you they want to keep playing. They have a rhythm going. Look at what has happened to us when just Emi was taken out - even when putting him back in again. Probably not the best prep for the playoffs. But I guess you weigh that against risk of suspensions/injury/fatigue. Dean Smith is the only one who knows the answers. 

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

Villa now can’t finish above 4th and very unlikely they’ll drop below 5th. So very likely they’ll play WBA in the playoff semis.

 

thats going to be their main focus and it’s a perennial problem how you manage 2 games in the meantime, they don’t matter in themselves but you don’t want to upset the dynamic of the team nor do you want morale sapping defeats. 

 

There’s no right answer - people will be critical with hindsight if you rest key players and lose form but equally if you play at full strength  and have injuries. Who’d be a manager?