Steve Bruce has only been Villa manager for a little over a week and, in this short period of time, he has already achieved something that both Remi Garde and Roberto Di Matteo could not; he has won a match away from home.
The last Villa manager who tasted an away victory was Tim Sherwood when his team beat Bournemouth on the opening day of the 2015/2016 Premier League season.
That meant that when Bruce took his Villa side to the Madejski Stadium on Tuesday night that it had been a whopping 438 days (a total of 27 games across all competitions) since they had won away from home. A 2-1 win for Villa, courtesy of a late penalty from Ayew, means that us Villa fans no longer have to rely on highlights from 14 months ago to remember what an away victory looks like. Hopefully we won’t have to wait so long for the next one!
Our next game of the season is at home to Fulham on Saturday (3pm). Fulham have been pretty inconsistent of late; their last 5 games have brought about 1 win, 2 draws and 2 losses. However, thanks to a good start to the season, they still sit 4 points above Villa in the table. Despite their inconsistency of late, this will still be a tricky game for Villa.
Here is our predicted Villa XI for the match. We reckon Bruce will go with a 4-5-1 formation again.
GK: Pierluigi Gollini
Easy choice; the young Italian is definitely Villa’s number one at the moment.
RB: Alan Hutton
With Richards injured still, we reckon Bruce will stick with Hutton. To be fair to him, he had a decent match against Reading.
CB: James Chester
Was his solid self against Reading. Will captain the side again in the absence of Elphick.
CB: Nathan Baker
Had a very decent game against Reading and, with Elphick injured, he will get another chance to impress the new boss.
LB: Aly Cissokho
Has given away two penalties in the last two games and we’d swap him for Amavi. However, Bruce has giving him his public backing so it is likely that he will be given one more chance.
RM: Albert Adomah
Set up a goal and was a constant threat against Reading. He was also one of Villa’s better players against Wolves at the weekend. Would be surprised not to see him start against Fulham
CM: Gary Gardener
Was very impressive against Reading and did not stop running. Bruce called his performance “excellent and terrific” and, therefore, we fully expect him to be given another opportunity.
CM: Aaron Tshibola
Was a toss up between Tshibola and Jedinak. Went for Tshibola in the end as Steve Bruce might feel the need to rest Jedinak as he has flown back from Australia and played in two games in the space of 5 days.
CM: Leandro Bacuna
Had a very good game in the midfield against Reading. He gave his all for the full 90 minutes and we expect that Bruce will reward him with another start.
LM: Jordan Ayew
Has been one of Villa’s most consistent performers this season; he has played a part in 5 of Villa’s 13 goals (2 goals and 3 assists).
After his little cameo against Reading, we think Bruce will start him this match.
CF: Jonathan Kodjia
Kodjia was superb against Reading. He worked hard throughout the game and was constantly showing his quality. Was a bit lucky for his goal but deserved that piece of luck. Will be one of the first names that Bruce writes on the team sheet.