Blackburn/Villa

Blackburn and Villa are only two points apart in the table which suggests a tight game this lunchtime. Their recent Picklive history suggests that the amount of points scored today could be low. Blackburn had only one player (Pedersen - 57) in the top 5 in their last Picklive match, Villa have had only 2 players (Albrighton - 66 & Downing - 65) out of a possible 15 in their last 3 matches.

With 3 games since the Big Game began there are just enough stats for Villa to make some analysis. Out of the 15 players in their top 5 for those games 2 were Brad Friedel, 4 were playing at centre back, 5 attacking/wide midfield, 3 at full-back and 1 was Reo-Coker. So what does this tell us? Well possibly that the Villa like to build through the centre-backs and then quickly out to the flanks?

With less data on Blackburn we need to look elsewhere. The Telegraph has stats on completed passes which is a decent indicator of Picklive potential. Pedersen has completed the most (258) this season followed by Phil Jones (218) and El Hadji Diouf (213). However, cross checking these passing stats with minutes played on the Guardian shows up a few other options. N'Zonzi, Grella and Chimbonda all have a higher pass per minute rate than Pedersen. N'zonzi and Grella are out injured today so it's only Chimbonda that makes it to the shortlist from this exercise. A fraction behind Pedersen is Emerton who would be also worth picking if he starts.

With Pederson, Emerton and Chimbonda on the Blackburn list we can see a similar pattern to Villa emerging i.e. they're strongest down the flanks. So, my recommendation today is start with the three Blackburn players mentioned and add, say, Warnock and Downing. After that check the line-ups to see who's starting for Villa. Houllier has been playing several youngsters recently so the first XI is uncertain.

Good luck!

BensBulls

P.s. just been doing looking at passing/minute stats for Villa and Bannan & Clark have the highest of the entire squad - could be worth a punt if they start!