Game kicks off at 11am ET. Villa - 4-3-3 - Friedel; Walker, Dunne, Collins, L Young; Delph, Reo-Coker, Petrov; Downing, Bent, A Young. Subs: Pires, Agbonlahor, Albrighton, Bradley, Heskey, Cuellar, Marshall. So much for an "experimental" lineup. Here's to MB getting minutes!
They're lucky to still be up by 2. RVP hits the post. Collins and Dunne are all over the place and even bumping into each other. This lead doesn't feel very safe at the moment.
Delph hasn't been especially effective so far. Bodes well for MB, especially if Villa can keep it at 2-0.
Arsenal was denied a clear penalty when Dunne took the legs out from under the shooter (Ramsey?) in the box. That said, Arsenal continues to show its soft underbelly to anybody who cares to pay attention.
I missed that. I have one eye on Fulham and one eye on this. It's safe to say both of these teams will be looking to upgrade the defense in the summer.
Villa starting to lose the battle in midfield. NRC is slowing down, looks like he took a bit of a knock. Petrov's name hasn't been said once by the announcers. He's completely invisible.
Petrov might be in danger of getting sent off. He already has a yellow and just had a late tackle. I don't know how it's still 0-2 Villa...the defense is all over the place and they can't get out of their own half.
Arsenal are creating one opportunity after another right now. Although Ashley Young forced a save on the counter, and Downing had a good opportunity to put away the rebound.
Chamakh heads the ball in, but the goal is called back for something. Can't figure out what, commentators can't either.
I really dont see why AV should keep Houllier or this current manager. They really dont seem willing to do anything whether they are losing or winning. Right now, they should either bunker down and organize or attack and possess instead of just being a mess with tired and old legs.
Russian commentator just said "When the referee makes a series of terrible decisions, opponents who have no problems with each other start beating the crap out of each other. Because the rules of football prohibit beating the crap out of the referee and you could face very serious consequences." Great save by Friedel to come out and stuff van Persie.
I am very surprised, I thought the idiots would bring on Pires like they have all season, especially with this game being at Arsenal. I am happy anyway to see Bradley get game time.
By the way, Villa look terrible. Do they know how to pass the ball to each other? Seems like they just boot it in any direction.