West Bromwich Albion is fourteenth in the league with 5 points having won 1 game, drawn 2 and lost 2. Followed by a midweek Captial One Cup clash against Birmingham City.
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The Albion certainly shouldn’t be much better than Villa, and I suspect that the prognosticators will give Villa the edge in this one.
Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has urged fans to stay in their seats when his side face West Bromwich Albion in the season’s first West Midlands derby tomorrow in an attempt to avoid a repeat of last season’s ugly scenes.
Villa were two goals to the good with 20 minutes to go against Leicester before the game swung dramatically in the hosts’ favour.
Tony Pulis was not helped earlier in the season by the Saido Berahino transfer saga, with the striker not playing whilst his future was in doubt. Aston Villa, ranked #15 with four points, is poised as the underdog of the match.
The Baggies have not won at Villa Park since April 2011. Although results aren’t going their way, Sherwood’s men have shown signs of brilliance throughout their opening five matches.
And he says it is natural his side will take time to gel after selling top scorer Christian Benteke and captain Fabian Delph.
Villa threw away a two-goal lead before losing against the Premier League surprise package and Sherwood’s sombre post-match press conference has drawn criticism from supporters.
It wasn’t easy at the beginning, I had to get used to many new things and so did she and I’ve changed lots and lots of nappies!
With both sides in very similar form, only goal difference separates them on the table.
“It’s a question of getting their creative players to do a bit more – getting them to step up”.
Sherwood, whose team beat West Brom on both occasions the rivals met at Villa Park last season, is expecting the Baggies to be hard to break down on Saturday, and will be without the services of Adama Traore, Idrissa Gana and Carles Gil due to injury.
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They are also barred from going to any regulated football fixture.
