A Villa Win Against Sunderland
The initial idea for this column was to run every time Villa don’t pick up three points, but seeing that some Villa fans were underwhelmed by the win at Sunderland (one fan called them the ‘worst team in the league’) and more focused on being pessimistic about the three tough games ahead, there’s no harm giving it run now. So here’s the latest five reasons to look on the bright side of Villa life.
1. Sunderland wasn’t such an easy scalp to take. Previously unbeaten in the league at home, they had only lost one game out of their first nine games of the season. That’s less than Manchester United had. They might not know where the goal is, but they’d proved to be a stubborn nut to crack.
2. Revenge over MON. If we didn’t need the three points so badly, we’d have donated them to charity (The Blues), as provoking MON’s home fans to boo him would have been reward enough. Call it karma, call it justice, but MON hasn’t beaten Villa in three attempts since leaving us up a certain creek without a paddle a few years ago.
3. We might have stumbled on a midfield…Don’t quote me on it yet, but the Westwood/KEA, Ireland, Bannan formation could provide a decent stop-gap until the January ‘Midfield Strengthening’ transfer window opens.
4. We’ve extended cup involvement until December, which even if the worst comes to the worst, will tie us over to the FA Cup in January. Plus, it will help keep spirits up with the tough league fixture list in the meantime.
5. Speaking of the League Cup… most Villa fans expected to be out when the Etihad fixture was first drawn out of the hat…or bowl. Lambert had other ideas and attacked Manchester City in their own back yard and prevailed. This attitude, if repeated in the coming week’s fixtures, may surprise a few.
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