Aston Villa Star Players of the Week After Sunderland Bore Draw

And now for the end of year catch up…

Aston Villa Star Players of the Week

Swansea 1-0 Aston Villa   

A frustrating game for the Villa who deserved at least a point from the game in Wales after having the better openings and if it wasn’t for the heroics of Lukas Fabianski we probably would have got more. We kept 11 men on the field too, which is a bonus at the moment.

3^rd Place – Andreas Weimann (1pt)

Weimann came off the bench and injected some much needed attacking threat in the second half. The Austrian gave the team great drive and tenacity as always, but his decision-making did let him down yet again, like in the possible three-on-one break he managed to screw up.

2^nd Place – Ron Vlaar (3pts)

Vlaar managed to keep the always dangerous Bony quite throughout the game in a mammoth battle and kept the defence organised when the probing Swansea team were dominating in the first half.

1^st Place – Gabby Agbonlahor (5pts)

Gabby was easily our biggest threat during the game, breaking forward from deep with great pace. He linked up brilliantly with Weimann during the second half and always had a great connection with Benteke. Missing the Sunderland game was a reminder what Gabby brings us in his ability to run beyond with his pace.

Aston Villa 1 – 1 Manchester United

Well first I have to say, wow the referee had a shocker! That is all I will say on the matter in risk of getting a £30,000 fine. Even with 10 men the Villa looked the better team and looked more likely to score the winner. Again a world class save from the opposition goalkeeper stopped Benteke from giving us the victory. We also stopped the losing run which stretched back to 2010.

3^rd Place – Ciaran Clark (1Pt)

It was yet another solid performance from the centre half against a very strong United attack. Clark kept the ball well when playing out of defence and looked confident and dominant, even alongside the more experienced Vlaar.

2^nd Place – Christian Benteke (3pts)

The Belgian striker’s goal was a something of a beauty. It was a goal you don’t celebrate as such you stand up in awe instead. His overall play was brilliant too as he held the ball up superbly and started attacks almost on his own.

1^st Place – Jores Okore (5pts)

Okore was an absolute goliath in the middle of the defence, winning every header that came his way and not letting anyone passed him. He showed his continued ability to bring the ball out from the back with ease and being able to play out from the back and start counter attacks. He is a calming head in the Villa back-line.

WBA 1-0 Aston Villa

It was a hugely disappointing performance against a weak Baggies outfit. Agent Richardson did not help proceedings by doing his duty by getting himself cleverly sent off to help Tesco F.C. take three points.

3^rd Place – Jores Okore (1Pt)

Apart from getting too easily beat in the first half to let a shot on goal, it was overall another decent performance from the Danish international. He managed to hold firm with ten men apart from a Brad Guzan drop which led to Gardner scoring.

2^nd Place – Carlos Sanchez (3pts)

It was a very tidy performance from the Columbian international in the centre of midfield. He got through a lot of defensive work after Richardson left the team in the lurch early on and managed to limit the Baggies through the middle, where they outnumbered the claret and blue. Sanchez was the main reason we were able to keep possession so well after going down to ten men.

1^st Place – Ciaran Clark (5Pts)

Clark put in a solid performance alongside Okore and read the game extremely well to snuff out any danger. His new found confidence meant when he was pushed out to left-back with the introduction of Vlaar, he looked good on the ball and was willing to bomb forward.

New Year’s resolution – keep 11 men on the field for 90 minutes.

Follow Ash on Twitter at @bannyboy95