By Lewis Rymond
Reading visit Villa Park burdened by the weight of inconsistency. While they haven’t lost too
many games, they haven’t banked enough wins to suggest they’re anything more than relegation candidates. Most importantly, can Villa build on the solid point taken from Arsenal?
Match Difficulty Grade
C Nobody can predict what Reading will achieve at the moment, because they followed up a excellent win against Everton by a loss to Wigan. Their away form isn’t particularly
solid (two points from last six away games), so this is a match that Aston Villa should look to take all three points from. However, Lambert’s youngsters can’t afford to get too complacent.
Facts to Sweep Under the Carpet
According to Opta, there has been a 90th minute goal in the last four games between Aston Villa and Reading, a bizarre yet worrying statistic considering Villa’s tendency to switch off in the last five minutes. Villa Park is still hardly the fortress it should be and Lambert will be looking to improve on his team only having the 18th best home record in the league. In fact, Villa have only achieved two home wins this whole year – which is relegation form.
What We Pray the Football Gods Will Provide
Another heroic and tight defensive display. While the 0-0 scoreline recorded on Saturday was a throwback to the McLeish era it was, in fairness, an impressive result against Arsenal, a team we failed to get anything from last season in three attempts. After Vlaar was subbed off early on Saturday through injury, Lowton, Clark, Lichaj and Stevens put in a solid shift. We’ll need to repeat this against Reading; although they aren’t yet a team in the habit of winning, they have scored the same amount of goals (7) away from home as Manchester City and Arsenal both have. Like Villa, Reading will see this match as there for the taking.
Why Villa Are Totally 100% Going to Win…
Villa have won four of the last five encounters with Reading. So we’ve tended to boss this fixture. The claret and blue resistance against Arsenal prompted a few verses of “You don’t know what you’re doing” for Mr. Wenger to endure from Arsenal supporters. If Villa can frustrate a Champions League side, they should be now primed to get amongst the goals against the likes of Reading. We saw a well-organised Villa side on Saturday, with the midfield grievances being largely put to rest. It’s should provide a platform for the likes of Weimann and Benteke to fill their boots against Reading. UTV
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