5) Villa best of the rest when it comes to taking on the top four
On the face of it
Manchester City's home game against
Aston Villa on Wednesday night looks like a foregone conclusion, another match ticked off en route to winning the Premier League, which is probably how it will turn out. The one potential spanner in the works is that Villa have the capacity to spring a surprise against the top clubs. Paul Lambert's side seem to play with greater freedom when there is no expectation or pressure to get a result, which will certainly be the case at the Etihad after Villa secured their top-flight status with a
3-1 victory over Hull on Saturday.
Villa have won at Arsenal, beaten Manchester City at home, defeated Chelsea at Villa Park and drawn at Liverpool this season. In fact, a table showing how the 16 clubs outside the top four have performed against Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal this season shows that Villa are top with 10 points from seven matches; they are the only team with a positive goal difference.
Unfortunately for Villa, they will have to make do without Christian Benteke and possibly Gabriel Agbonlahor, who limped off against Hull, which means that their threat on the counter-attack is somewhat blunted. All the same, Manuel Pellegrini and his players will know from their recent experience against
Sunderland that it is dangerous to take anything for granted in this league.
Stuart James