We get the lowdown on Saturday’s opponents from someone who should know.
Next for Wanderers is a trip to the West Midlands on Saturday to play Aston Villa. We caught up with Jonathan Fear, who basically runs Vital Football as a whole, and also happens to support Saturday`s opponents. He explains how Villa have turned the corner in recent weeks, and what we should expect at the weekend.
After a poor start to the season, Villa have seemed to have turned the corner with a string of wins. What is that down to?
Steve Bruce says he wanted to make us hard to beat first and we sat back a lot. Then he got a few players playing in their more attacking roles, brought through Keinan Davis from the youth set-up, and things have really picked up. We have been a bit up and down with players not always ‘turning up` but after the last two wins, I think confidence has really grown and we basically blew Burton Albion away the other night. Without any arrogance, with the money spent and the squad we have, I think we should walk the league, NOT take it for granted, not think we just have to turn up to win – in the Championship, as you know, you have to work for every point – but with our strike power alone we should be bossing games.
Villa were tipped for promotion pre-season. How confident are you of that actually happening?
It`s the hope that kills! However, the set-up of this club, we really do need to get back up and Bruce has a proven track record of promotion. As above, with the money spent and the players at his disposal, we should be top two by the end of the season. If not, I`m sure the owner will want to know why.
How should be expect Villa to set up tactically on Saturday?
442. He needs to stick with that now he`s seen it working.
Who is the Villa player we should watch out for?
Jonathan Kodjia on his day is a trouble for any defence. Talking about defence, John Terry is all of a sudden looking the part. Conor Hourihane is now playing well and Albert Adomah, having been dropped for being inconsistent, has been on fire. Oh and the keeper, Sam Johnstone, has been pulling off top class saves as well.
What is your score prediction?
4-0 to Aston Villa (so probably a bore draw!) Hey, you have to have the dream don`t you? We are more than capable of scoring in numbers now and with confidence how it is, why not?!