Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Aston Villa captain Micah Richards is expected to miss a fourth consecutive game because of a knee injury.
Full-backs Joe Bennett and Aly Cissokho have both been recalled from loan spells but will not be eligible to play until January.
West Ham’s Andy Carroll could return from a thigh problem but the game comes too soon for Manuel Lanzini, who is recovering from a similar injury.
Diafra Sakho, Victor Moses, Winston Reid and Dimitri Payet are still out.
Editor’s Note: No win in 16 plays no win in 7 today, surely someone has to win this, don’t they?
Aston Villa managed to get a battling point last time out at St James Park in a relegation 6 pointer but in all fairness that was more to do with Newcastle wasting opportunities than Villa creating their own.
To be fair they did look more of a nuisance once Rudi Gestede came on and Jordan Ayew did score a fantastic effort to level things up but ultimately Remi Garde is still looking for his first win since taking over at Villa Park and Villa are looking for their first win since the opening day of the season.
Thankfully for them they go up against a West Ham side who are low on momentum and players. They’ve registered two 0-0’s in the last two matches so although they appear to be solid at the back they aren’t creating a lot going forward.
They also haven’t won a game since Dimitri Payet’s injury, it would be unfair to label them a one man team but they certainly have lost that energy that they were showing early in the season when claiming notable away scalps at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City
The fact that these two teams can’t seem to buy a win at the moment means I think it will be a draw at Villa Park today, another point for Remi Garde but he will still be searching for that elusive first win come 5:00pm
