This Saturday sees Villa travel down to the south coast to play an out of form Southampton with top flight survival virtually guaranteed and the FA Cup final firmly in our sights. The reverse match at Villa Park in November ended in a dour 1-1 draw as Gabby capitalized on an error by Fraser Forster to poke the ball home before Nathanial Clyne equalized for the Saints in the second half. That match was to be the end of Roy Keane’s term as assistant manager.
This weekend’s opponents have shocked many this season, as before the season began many pundits and fans alike were predicting for them to struggle after a traumatic off season in which they lost manager Mauricio Pochettino to Tottenham and stalwarts of their previous season’s team, Lovren, Lallana, Lambert and Luke Shaw. But in Ronald Koeman they had a man who knew what it took to rebuild the side and he has done so successfully, by adding players such as Fraser Forster, Ryan Bertrand, Grazianno Pelle, Saido Mane and Dusan Tadic and promoting players from their ever impressive youth academy such as Matt Targett and Harrison Reed. Although they have suffered a dip in form recently, as players begin to tire they still sit high and mighty in 7th place and very much in contention for a Europa League place, which they will get if Arsenal beat us in the cup final. Southampton’s run of recent form has been poor with only 1 win in 6 since the start of April, but they will want to end the season with a bang in front of their home fans.
The team news for Southampton is that England U-21 midfielder James Ward Prowse is back for the Saints after suspension, but midfield duo Dusan Tadic and Morgan Scheinderlin are both missing through injury. England forward Jay Rodriquez is on the comeback trail from injury but is very unlikely to be risked at all in this match. The attacking presence of Mane, Elia and Pelle are likely to provide the main threat for the Saints.
This weekend represents one of relief for Villa as we are all but guaranteed safety in the top flight for one season more thanks to Tim Sherwood’s rejuvenation of the whole football club. Last weekend’s win over a lacklustre West Ham showed that we can grind a game out when we don’t have the chance to play the sort of attacking football Tim Sherwood would like, although the midfield trio of Delph, Cleverly and Grealish provided moments of brilliance throughout the game. But the defence was also impressive, with Westwood sitting infront of the back four which kept its first home clean sheet in the league since January 1st, although Given’s lack of authority when crosses coming into the area is a cause for concern and a better team may be able to take advantage of that. Up front it was a quiet day for Christian Benteke, as he went without a goal which is a rareity under Tim Sherwood. Charles N Zogbia worked hard up front and showed moments of class on the ball, a huge improvement on his performances under Lambert but there is still surely more to come from the Frenchman. But the main highlight of Saturday, was the containing emergence of young Jack Grealish. He provided the assist for Cleverley’s goal with a brilliant run and cut back and was unlucky not to have a second assist as Gabby fluffed his brilliant chance to put us 2-0 up after Jack’s through ball from the left of his own penalty area.
This weekend represents one of the opportune moments for Tim Sherwood to see the full extent of the squad he is available to him, as the amount of injuries seems to be decreasing. One of those players who has recently returned from the physio’s table is Gabby Agbonlahor, who returned in a cameo and missed a great chance to score as mentioned. Whether he starts or not will be a different story as the front 3 of Benteke, Grealish and N’Zogbia have formed an understanding which has served Villa very well recently. Shay Given is likely to be retained in goal despite his major weakness in claiming crosses and overall command of his area, which is a key strength of his challenger Brad Guzan. Other team news is that Nathan Baker is back from injury but will not be risked but loan starts Gary Gardner and Callum Robinson are back from their successful loan spells and could be included on the bench.
Although there is a huge disparity between the two sides recent form, Southampton are going to pose a real threat to an Aston Villa side high on confidence. If Sherwood wants his winning run to continue, his team will need to play to their best and repel everything Southampton throw at them, if Villa cannot do that then Southampton will be waiting to capitalize.
