From The Ridiculous To The Sublime – Villa Prove It’s A Funny Old Game – Match Stats
A lovely Sunday afternoon and Aston Villa welcomed struggling Fulham to Villa Park for our first game back after the international break.
It was hoped that Jack Grealish would return for this one to give everyone a boost but he seems to have picked up an issue in training yesterday which kept him out, so whilst there’s not a lot that could be done about it, it was hardly a boost when the teams were announced.
It was also a lively start to the game, but not quite by us as we again took our time to get up to speed but it was open and it was clear both sides were going to get chances today – who took them was the question.
At the end of the first half, no one. Neither side actually threatened really, but we did have the obligatory VAR decision go against us. It wasn’t a foul on Watkins by about a toe hair’s length, but quite why the foul on McGinn wasn’t looked at was beyond me.
A woeful 45 minutes for us and we deserved nothing – was that our bad half? Could we get any worse?
The answer was unequivocally yes. Messing around in defence allowed Mitrovic to get clear and round Martinez and it looked like there was no way back.
Dean Smith does the unthinkable and rejigs midfield, bringing Keinan Davis on in the process.
The game slowly changed and 12 odd minutes later Mings made up for their goal by putting Trezeguet in to score the leveller, and three minutes later Davis had his assist as Trez grabbed a brace.
A total turnaround, unexpected mind you, but we had a spring back in our step and the irony is, this was one game that had absolutely no positives unlike others we had not taken points from recently.
It was soon 3-1 as the ever trying Ollie Watkins scored his easiest of the season after a great little ball in by an otherwise criminally inconsistent Bertie.
What a strange game, I think I need a lie down now.
Manchester United beat us to the inaugural Prem title in 1992/93, but what was the score when we travelled to Old Trafford?
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