Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers preview

Posted Friday, January 28, 2011 by Goonersguide.com

Aston Villa

Gerard Houllier must feel a corner has been turned at Aston Villa after leading his side to back to back League wins. The pressure may have been growing on the Frenchman on the terraces, but it is clear the owner, Randy Lerner, has plenty of faith as demonstrated by his 30 million pound outlet on Darren Bent and Jean Makoun. With 3 days left in the transfer window, there may be yet more players coming through the door with Seb Larsson being linked from Birmingham City.

The 2 recent League wins have pushed Villa up the table and given them some breathing space from the relegation zone. The side is now up to 13th in the table and hold a 6 point advantage over Wigan in 18th and the final relegation spot. They are 5-4-3 at Villa Park, scoring 16 goals and conceding 13 this season.

Villa have lost just 1 of their last 5 games in all competitions and are unbeaten in their last 4. Of those games, the team has won 3 and the confidence looks to be returning into the side. They had lost 3 of 4 games at Villa Park before beating Manchester City 1-0 here last Saturday evening.

Darren Bent is cup-tied for this game, but I still expect Gerard Houllier to name a strong side. It is clear a good cup run would be welcomed by the manager to build some bridges with the fans and so I would not expect too many changes even though they play Manchester United on Tuesday night.

Blackburn Rovers

Steve Kean has made such an impression on the new owners in the last month that his contract as manager to last until the end of the season has been extended for a further 2 years. While the team has been playing for the new man in charge, it still saddens me when new owners take over a club and begin toying it with it as Venky's have, trying to purchase players through the media when there was little to no chance of bringing in Ronaldhino or David Beckham.

Blackburn are 8th in the Premier League table and hold a comfortable 9 point lead over Wigan in 18th as survival is still the main priority this season. They have not played well away from home and are 3-1-8, scoring 14 goals but conceding 27.

The team have won 4 of their last 6 games in all competitions including an important 2-0 home win over West Brom last Sunday. Rovers have lost 5 of their last 6 away wins, but their only win in that time came in this part of the World at West Brom. They have not scored in either of their last 2 away from home.

Steve Kean did not make many changes to his side in the last round of this competition when they overcame Queens Park Rangers at home. I would make the suggestion that the FA Cup would be an important competition to the new owners as a way to make a statement, something they seem to be keen on doing ever since they took over at Ewood Park, and so I would expect a strong team to be named.

Head to Head

Blackburn have won 2 of the last 3 meetings between the sides in all competitions, but they generally do not have the best recent record against the Villa.

Aston Villa have won 4 of the last 5 meetings between the sides at Villa Park and have been something of a nemesis for Rovers in Cup competitions.

In the last 13 months, Villa have knocked Blackburn out of the Carling Cup twice and the FA Cup, winning all 4 ties. 3 of those took place at Villa Park so there are some ghosts to be exorcised for the Blackburn players I would imagine.

Prediction

Both of these teams have some confidence coming into this game and we should get a tough game on Saturday afternoon. Villa have the more quality in their team, in my opinion, and that should give them the edge here.

They will also have their fans onside after a couple of big results, while the Blackburn players may be thinking 'not again' after being paired with Villa in 4 straight Cup competitions, and losing the previous 3.

Blackburn have been performing better of late, but Steve Kean has not quite got his away tactics right and that could also make a difference here.

I am slightly disappointed that Villa are odds on across the board, but think they can win this game and the price is just tempting enough for me to have a small involvement.