Villa Strikers To Fight For Places

This is the sort of talk we are seeing more and more since the doom lifted from over Villa Park with the departure of the previous manager, what was his name again and the imminent departure of, no the former chairman’s name escapes me as well. Milan Baros says he is back and ready to fight for his place at Villa. The Czech internationl scored a brace for the reserves against Portsmouth last night and is now looking to re-gain his starting place following his recovery from an ankle injury picked up at the World Cup in the summer. He told the official site: ‘I’m ready to fight for my place. The strikers have done well do far this season. Juan, Luke and Gabby have all impressed and competition for places is always good. Now I’m ready to sight for my place. There’s a great atmosphere at Villa at the moment and I want to be part of the team. It was good to come off the bench at West Ham, but I want more than that.’

‘It was nice to get on the scoresheet last night and it’s always nice to get goals at any level. But really for me it was all about working on my match fitness and getting through 90 minutes.’

Berger also made a return and completed 90 minutes. Baros says Patrik is ‘a quality player who adds something to the squad.’

Rumours are also suggesting the fight for striker places might soon be increased with some patchy reports suggesting Martin O’Neill is considering a move for former Blackburn and Celtic striker Chris Sutton who is a free agent.

VILLA: Taylor, Gardner, Bridges, Djemba-Djemba, O’Halloran (booked 69), Bouma, Agathe, Osbourne, Whittingham, Baros, Berger. Subs: Green, Olejnik, Kabeya, MacDonald

Portsmouth: Ashdown, Songo’o, Duffy, O’Brien, Wilson, Fernandes (booked 64), Koroman, Kranjcar, Cole, LuaLua, Douala. Subs: Jordan, Fordyce, Harris (for LuaLua 83), Compton (for Cole 83), Hartmann (for Fernandes 74).