Villa/ManUtd.

Hi everyone,

My first preview for the FC Roger blog!

A few stats to begin with…

· United are unbeaten in their last 14 PL visits to Villa Park. Their only defeat in the last 17 was 3-1 in August 1995.

· Villa are without a defeat in their six home PL matches.

· United have drawn five of their six PL away matches this season

· United have drawn their last three matches in Birmingham and are unbeaten in their last 20 PL matches in the city.

This match is going to be pretty close I think and a draw looks a fairly likely result. Villa’s last Picklive match was a 0-0 draw against Chelsea at home – I think the match against United will be similar, maybe with a couple more goals. The top scorers in that match were Malouda (78), Essien (71), Mikel (69), Cole (66), Ivanovic (60). Petrov (57), Warnock (56) and Friedel (52) top scored for Villa.

Looking back at previous picklive matches, Villa players are hardly putting together big scores. Luke Young currently has the highest average with 57 points from 4 matches. Friedel and Warnock have an average of 48pts.

Unfortunately Scholes will be out through suspension. Fletcher consistently puts good picklive scores together – with an average of 66pts. Carrick will probably partner Fletcher in the centre of midfield – he is in great picklive form scoring 80pts against City and 76 against Spurs. Evra is a doubt for the match and it looks like Rafael is out. O’Shea and Brown will likely step in. O’Shea had 27 points from 22 minutes of football which is a good sign. More adventurous of you will probably want to have a look at Nani and Park. Nani is averaging 58.2 pts in his last five matches on picklive – partly due to a top scoring 101 against Spurs. Park has been playing well recently with a couple of goals against Wolves last weekened (not on picklive) and is averaging 49.8 pts in his last five picklive matches.

None of the strikers on show are really in prolific form so I won’t advise picking any of them. Agbonhlahor is fit and should return – he has scored four of Villa’s last five goals against United.

I will be going with 4 United players in the BG and I wouldn’t really recommend going with more than 2 Villa players with their recent picklive form! I think you have to go with Fletcher and Carrick really. For Villa - I would go with Luke Young, Warnock or Petrov. And then the choice for me is between Nani, Park, O’Shea and Brown.

A couple stats to finish with…

· Nani has six PL assists this season – joint-most with Drogba

· Houllier has lost three of his last four PL matches against United – although he did win his last PL match against them.

· United have picked up more PL wins (24) and more PL points (81) against Villa than any other team in the PL has against the midlands club.

· Villa lost only one of their last 15 PL home matches

· United have lost only once in the midlands since 1998 – a 1-0 defeat at Wolves in Jan 2004


Good luck!
Grunny27 (Simon G)