Pre-Villa Prayers…

By: MoonPig | April 11th, 2008

5 Months ago Aston Villa beat Derby 2-0, and I left the ground thinking I wouldn’t be so worried if it wasn’t for the fact we never mustered a shot on goal the entire game. (We) Derby fans sang “The Premier League is upside down” because we knew our fate as early as then.

Talk about 5 months being a long time in football - This was the team that faced Villa, note those who have been moved on.

Derby: ~~Bywater~~, ~~Griffin~~, Moore, Davis (~~Teale 46~~), McEveley, ~~Fagan~~ (Earnshaw 66), ~~Oakley~~, Leacock, ~~Pearson~~, Barnes, ~~Howard~~… and Davis and Barnes are injured!

* Starting XI Prediction: Carroll, Mears, Moore, Stubbs, McEveley, Feilhaber, Ghaly, Savage, Jones, Villa, Miller.

* A guy called Damian’s Villa Blog (and comments on Derby) here

* For those who don’t already know, my £5 on Derby to win away at Everton (11/1) went the same way as our season.

* SkyBet has spoken once again: Derby Win: 9/2 Draw: 12/5 Villa Win: 4/7… First Goalscorer - Carew or Agbonlahor at 5/1 for Villa and Kenny Miller at 8/1 with Tito at 9/1 for the Rams… For the sadists among us, Derby to win 3-0 is 66/1 and Villa to win 3-0 is an alarming 10/1. Hmmm…

Other News:

* Jewell says he has “no fears over his side’s motivation” for the rest of the season”

* David Jones tells the Derby players to “Make The Most Of It“. Perhaps that should have been suggested in August, Jonah.

Roll on Saturday…. /end