After the Villa faithful have been given what they duly deserve after being at war with relegation for around 3/4 years and reached a major final, they have the small task of competing against Manchester City in the League next.
Although Manchester City may not be in the best of form, with an aging squad and a out of his depth manager, it seems like all this success maybe a bit too much for Villa some people are thinking, with a win against Tottenham and obviously the historic victory versus Liverpool may see us just peter out a tad against a strong opposition, if you believe some media commentators that is.
But what some of these London sport journalists forget is with a bit of forward planning, a Virgin train from Birmingham to Manchester is nothing even if the away ticket is extortionate, the fans and Sherwood together is what is making this team click so well in recent weeks. Man City although having a full strength side are hard to predict, losing to Crystal Palace one weekend and winning against West Ham the next, so it’s hard to make a proper prediction on the game.
However, what we do know is that Benteke is firing on all cylinders and Jack Grealish is becoming into his own, looking like an unbelievable creative force – almost making Gil a laughable last signing of Paul Lambert’s tenure knowing Jack Grealish was registers for the Premier League. Positive’s for Villa would be the lack of force from an ever present Yaya Toure, who’d take no asking to destroy a villa defense in recent seasons and how inconsistent Sergio Aguero has been this season which all looks to point to villa coming away from the Etihad with something at least. But with a manager fighting for his job and a team trying to not completely embarres themselves as Champions, they’ll look to commit men in midfield, trying to stop the service to Benteke and it wouldnt surprise me to see a few yellow cards when Fernando and Fernandinho inevitably go in hard on Grealish.
All of this speaks for a great game to watch while having your tea or while you’re at the pub with your mates, or even better actually there. I think Tim Sherwood’s attack will be tactical but a lot might be shot out of the water from the first minute with Man City’s obvious higher caliber of players, but it doesnt deter me from thinking we could nick a point, at least!
I think Sherwood’s side are inspired and a few of the players, like Gabby who could be involved at the weekend will probably want to feel some of that Wembley joy, going to go for a 1-0 Villa.
