Damian
I didn’t want to write a post after the other night, it felt like everything that needed to be written was written on the pitch. There is one thing I do want to bring up and that is the substitution of Rashford. Other than that though, I’ll not be bringing it up again.
And it’s not rocket science. Was he doing well, yes he was. But that’s likely because he wants to put the effort in (he’s in the shop window) and because his fitness levels are where they are. And this suits everyone.
But his fitness levels are where they are because the Club have got them there. And they will be kept there by him not playing 90 minutes twice a week. For him to be able to deliver today, maybe as a substitute for the last 30 minutes, he needed to be taken off when he was the other day. It’s a team game and we have a big team now and that means we can have players, like Ollie Watkins, on the bench.
And it was the bench that won us the match last weekend and I’m not sure it was a coincidence. Hopefully we don’t need to rely on the bench every week but I’m not sure we will because players are also getting rotated and I think we might even see Ollie starting today with Rashford on the bench and I think regardless of what is happening on the pitch, we’ll see a switch around sixty minutes.
Not just Newcastle at Villa Park
And while this post is about Newcastle today, it’s also about finishing in the top five. And before we play today, Manchester City have to travel to Everton. And while Everton have only won one of the last six, they’ve also drawn four. They’re now more difficult to beat and for one reason or another, Manchester City have not been the Manchester City we all expected this season.
If Everton don’t lose today, the match against Newcastle is even more important because three points would then see us in the top five, before traveling to Manchester City on Tuesday. Today is more than just Newcastle at Villa Park.
And that’s why the squad is so important at this time of the season. Six points from the next two matches would be massive for us and with the squad available, it’s not impossible. We’re not just invited to the big table, we are sat down eating.
Match facts from the BBC
Aston Villa
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Aston Villa are on an 18-match unbeaten home streak across all competitions (W12, D6), their longest since a run of 20 games between April 1990 and February 1991.
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Villa have lost just one of their past 24 Premier League games at home on a Saturday, against Arsenal in August (W18, D5).
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Youri Tielemans has started every Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League game for Villa this season and has been on the pitch for a total of 4,130 minutes, more than any other teammate.