Why Villa Park Won't Be An Easy Trip For The Hammers This Weekend

As a football fan an extension to the snooze-fest international break is not what you want but that’s what us Villans have as we won’t be kicking a competitive ball until Monday night.

Conceivably, we could be bottom of the league come kick-off but with the two clubs below us in the table hosting Manchester City and Arsenal over the weekend, I really can’t see that being the case.

The only thing I had been looking forward to during the break was to see Tyrone Mings crossing the white line in an England jersey but it seems that we’re going to be made to wait.

On Monday evening I appeared on Love Sport Radio and made a bold statement claiming that the Villa centre-half isn’t yet more accomplished than the likes of Harry Maguire or Michael Keane but he’s most certainly better than the both of them and that Kosovo game did little in making me think otherwise. Defensively we were a shambles!

Wesley Moraes to score a Brace – WAS 12.00 NOW 14.00*

Back to domestic football and we’re now just about to embark into the really meaty part of the season. We’ve had our bedding in process and between now and the next break in two months times, there are eight leagues matches to get stuck into (plus the Carabao Cup).

Prior to a ball being kicked this season, I looked at this chunk of games and thought there were a few winnable ones. West Ham at home is one of those.

As Everton will testify; an evening in B6 under the floodlights will not be easy for any travelling team this term and one of the determining factors for this is the raucous atmosphere generated by the Villa faithful. Monday evening’s visit of West Ham will be Dean Smith’s 20th home league game as manager losing just three. And I expect that figure to remain the same and I’ll tell you why.

Not sure how the @PremierLeague & @madleyref can stand by such a statement! 😳😂

1) JG clearly gets a nudge in the back by Zaha

2) If there was no contact between Cahill & JG then why is Cahill writhing around & clutching his leg for a few seconds post collision?

(1/2) pic.twitter.com/EXqxN3mwrR

— Heart Of The Holte (@HeartOfTheHolte) September 2, 2019

Dean Smith and his backroom team will have micro-analysed everything that happened in the first few weeks of the season be it on the ball and without. It’s this meticulous approach to the game that will stand us in good stead this term and at the very least we will remain competitive.

There’s no doubting that he will have had the group working on how to protect our back four, the offensive transitioning and how to become more of threat.

With that in mind I’m going for a clean sheet against the Hammers and another 2-0 victory is on the cards. Make sure you tune into the Heart of the Holte next week for post-match reaction and plenty more…UP THE VILLA!