Tonight, we face Hull City at the KC Stadium, in what is set to be a dark and drab spectacle for all. Saturday’s defeat to league leaders Chelsea wasn’t the blood-bath most expected, but it wasn’t brilliant. We were relatively solid at the back, as Okore lead the defensive unit with immense authority. However, going forward was another story. Agbonlahor and Weimann, who start for Villa tonight, were simply awful. The pairing failed to act on any progress made by Gil and Delph. Apart from Okore’s goal, Thibaut Courtois wasn’t merely troubled.
Scott Sinclair makes his first league start tonight, as he replaces Tom Cleverley. This change was thoroughly needed. The United loanee had a forgettable afternoon against Chelsea. Cleverley struggled to make any sort of impact on the game, regularly losing possession in both promising and dangerous areas of the pitch. Villa’s number eight was outclassed by his midfield colleagues; Delph, Westwood and Gil. The trio worked efficiently and systematically to advance Villa up the field. When they lost the ball, unlike Cleverley, they fought desperately hard to retain possession. This change won’t win Paul Lambert the fan’s support, but it will certainly please them. Now, we must see what Sinclair can bring to the table. Could he be the man to change Villa’s goal scoring fortune? So far, Sinclair has only featured as a bit-player. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how he performs from the first whistle. The former-City man tried very hard to inject his pace and flair into Saturday’s game, when he was given the nod from Lambert. But, Chelsea’s introduction of Cuadrado prevented him from making any significant impact.
Hull City were excellent at the Etihad on Saturday, and will now be full of confidence going into tonight’s game. With Saturday’s draw against City they have ended their run of defeats and also break out of the relegation zone. It could be argued that the Tigers were the better team for most of Saturday’s contest. They were disciplined in defence and purposeful on the attack. City were very fortunate to draw the fixture, as former-Villan James Milner struck for in the last minute of the game to get City back on level terms.
Our visit to Hull will be an extremely testing one. I can’t see us winning the contest, simply because we appear to be completely inept when going forward. I believe tonight’s fixture has draw written all over it, but I hope I’m wrong. Hopefully, the Cleverely dismissal allows us to be more fluent in the centre of the park in both attack and defence. Sinclair should a much more positive outlet for Gil and Delph, who seem to be our best performers at the minute, along with Jores Okore.
I predict a 1-1 draw for tonights face-off against the Tigers.
