Luring the Dragons
A return to Birmingham from the south coast left many Villa fans disappointed as the team put in one of their best performances yet under Steve Bruce against Brighton yet failed to pick up the win. A good point nonetheless was earned which leaves Villa still within touching distance of the play-offs (at least in points, if not position) and the belief that they can tussle with the best in the league.
Villa will welcome Neil Warnock’s Cardiff City to Villa Park on Saturday, another team that have seen a significant turn in form due to a managerial change. Only losing to Wigan and league leaders Newcastle since Warnock’s arrival in the first week of October, which makes Cardiff’s league position of 21st a little deceiving.
However, Steve Bruce still remains unbeaten as Villa manager as well as Villa being the only Championship team to be unbeaten at home, leaving Cardiff as the underdog going into the game. Villa clearly have an opportunity to show everybody why they deserve to still be considered as promotion contenders.
Here’s three ways of making it happen…apart from scoring more goals.
1. Card Trick
As mentioned last week before the game against Brighton, Aston Villa possess many technically gifted players with McCormack, Adomah, Ayew, Kodjia and Grealish having the ability to trouble any defence in the Championship.
The referee is expected to have a quiet game in this match if the recent booking records are to be trusted, as Villa have drastically improved their disciplinary record since Bruce’s arrival. Cardiff currently are the saints of the league, who along with Sheffield Wednesday, are the team with the least amount of yellow cards with only 23 yellow cards amassed all season.
Partnering these two points could lead to disaster for Cardiff as they clearly prefer to back off the oncoming attacker when in defence, which could lead to a lot of space and time being available to exploit. As long as Bruce orders the Villa players to play the ball forward quicker and take the game to Cardiff, the game should unravel nicely for his team.
UTV
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