Aston Villa are traveling to Carrow Road this weekend’s Premier League game. Both teams haven’t had the best of starts to this year’s Premier League season. Norwich are sitting 15th with 4 points, while Aston Villa are 17th with 3 points from 4 games. Both these teams invested heavily in the summer, with arguably Norwich being the more ambitious team this summer. Norwich have spent heavily on 3 new forwards and new midfielders in an effort to make Norwich more potent in attack. It has worked, Van Wolfswinkel, Elmander, Redmond and Fer have all scored for Norwich in either the League Cup or Premier League. Aston Villa’s new signings have been slowly gelling and only Luna and Okore have started for Aston Villa this season.
Last weekend, Aston Villa lost at home to Newcastle 2-1 while Norwich lost 2-0 to Tottenham. Aston Villa have also lost key defender Okore, who is injured for the remainder of the season. Meanwhile, Gary Hooper is nearing full match fitness for his new club and may feature in Saturday’s game. Norwich get their majority of points at home, meanwhile Aston Villa collect the majority of their points away. It’s safe to say that this game promises goals.
Paul Lambert also returns to his former club which he left controversially last July.
Team News:
Gary Hooper is expected to feature after recovering from a shin problem that has postponed his debut. Meanwhile, Ryan and Elliott Bennett will miss out who are sidelined with a knee injury.
Aston Villa will be without Jores Okore who is out for the remainder of the season after a ligament injury. Ciaran Clark is expected to fill in. Nathan Baker has also recovered from an ankle injury he sustained during the weekend. N’Zogbia remains a long-term injury.
Match Facts:
Villa have collected the most yellow cards (13) in the Premier League this season, but have also seen their opponents receive the most too (12).
Aston Villa won on both visits to Carrow Road last season: 4-1 in a League Cup quarter-final last December, and then 2-1 in the Premier League in May when Gabby Agbonlahor scored his second goal of the game in the last minute.
Norwich, like Villa, have yet to lead at half-time this season.
Likely Lineups:
Ruddy
Whittaker-Turner-Bassong-Garrido
Snodgrass-Fer-Tettey-Redmond
Elmander
Van Wolfswinkel
Benteke
Agbonlahor-Tonev-Weimann
Delph-Westwood
Bennett-Clark-Vlaar-Lowton
Guzan
Prediction:
Norwich 1-1 Aston Villa
I’m going for a draw, however I think the result will really depend on how Paul Lambert set’s his team up. I think Aston Villa can beat Norwich but under the condition that Bennett is brought back into the side, Tonev is given a chance out wide and Helenius plays behind Benteke. This add’s pace and strength into our attack. I know that Delph, Westwood and the defence can cope with Norwich’s attack. But I do expect goals in this game and Gary Hooper may spring a surprise or too, I’d also really watch out for Nathan Redmond, he was superb against Southampton and will cause us problems out wide.
Not sure about bringing Bennett in, if not Luna then id rather Clarke/Baker filling in there. Think it could be time for Weimann to take a seat too
Actually you might be right. I’d play Baker at left-back, he’s played there before and he’s solid.
Sure, you don’t get the same quality of offense from Baker, but in terms of defending will keep us more solid.
Not sure we can risk Baker and Clark on the field with only Herd as reserve in CB. Luna for me.
Well no 3 points tomo and no clean sheet and thats it with lambert for me over a year and no improvement what’s so ever im sick of it stand up and be counted lambert
3-1 Villa and our famous fickle fans will be talking about Europe again. Zzzzzzzzzzz
I would bet my house on, that NOT being the villa line~up
who ever the BOSS picks 2 play in the claret and blue, they will do us proud
if ur traveling sing the boys home. 3 ~1 and 3points to us and put a end 2 all this over the top negativity, we all endured last season, fans and players alike.
this year we are better fitter and wiser, I get that we av only 3 points onboard, but its alittle 2 early 2 top ourselves
Time to give Sylla another shot!
No, time to give Sylla a decent run over a number of games!
prior to the Newcastle game id have said we were in with a more than decent chance of taking 3 pts here and its been a happy hunting ground for us there so far under lambert, but……..after what I witnessed against Newcastle which most worrying of all was to see us making exactly the same mistakes as last season, playing way too narrow and being hit time again on the wings when our FBs are out of position, players looking unconfident on the ball and misplacing 3 yard passes under no pressure, lambert throwing on dubious substitutions and playing everthing through beneke no matter how obvious it is coz we’ve been doing it non stop for 80 minutes plan A with no plan B.
now ive said the squad should be used to things by now, the ‘young and inexperienced’ are for the most part battle hardened after last season but Saturday was like watching this time last season, it was like we’d learnt nothing and that includes lambert.
I can only hope that Saturday was just one of those god awful shockers you get every now and then, every team gets them(see Chelsea in the CL)and we wont see its like again. while im not expecting mircles I am expecting to see us progress this season and one can only hope that if we see all the things that need addressing then surely the team and the management see it to and if they do then surely they MUST be addressing the issues……………surely.
NAUGHTIUS mate it;s as plain as the nose on your face nothing as been learned.It seems as though Lambert as an ego bigger than VP change will only come when Randy Lerner wakes up to the fact that Lambert is incapable of building a team.
Glad this is away from VP. We’re undoubtedly better away from home and Lambert has won on his 2 return visits to Norwich.
Bennett won’t play IMO. I’d bring Tonev in for Weimann and Sylla for KEA but I don’t think Lambert will.
I just hope we can avoid conceding the opening goal for the first time this season, we always seem to be chasing the game. Concentration from the off will be key.
last Saturday was very concerning but I think its a little early for the doom and gloom, we have played only the one poor game + the Liverpool 1st half playing against top opposition.
I still think its a little early to be throwing the towel in and ripping up the blue print.
Hi everyone tough to call this one as we have had a bad coupla games and away comon u lions UTV
Going for at least a draw and maybe a win.
Put some money on Redmond to score or at least assist though, purely because I thought we should have had a serious look at him, when he was at the shit.
Cheap, decent buy (opinion backed up by some nose friends of mine), who should have ticked Lambert’s/Villa’s boxes.
Oh, I forgot, he plays out wide. Silly me.
I think a lot of the reason for the sudden rise in negativity is the fact that so many of us were very optimistic before the Newcastle game, I for one was sure we were going to get 3 pts and even then if we’d have lost but played well enough id have been disappointed but not overly concerned, the worry as I saw is the manner in which we lost, I hoped we’d seen the last of these type of displays.
but I mentioned somewhere else that the optimism wasn’t based on anything really concrete but none the less most of us approached the game last weekend fully expecting to win.
im gonna go for a Norwich win tomorrow because I was so wrong about the Newcastle result lets hope im wrong this time too 😉
2-1 Norwich.
Well if the team took the attitude, well we were crap against Newcastle so we’ll be crap again against Norwich, they might aswell not turn up and the away fans stay at home. FFS we had a bad game, yes mistakes were made and not least by Lambert with some of his substitutions. But that does not mean we will be crap tomorrow. We have seen that we can play some great football, we’ve done it regularly since March, we can and I am sure will, do it again. Play like we did against Malaga, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool second half and I see a win tomorrow. Keep the faith. UTV
Streetly, you’re right in that we’re better away from home.
I still wouldn’t read too much into what we did in the latter few months of the last season though.
As I’ve said many a time, look at who we played in that run.
Not that I’m pessimistic. It’s more a case of if we can’t get anything against Norwich, you have to be concerned.
But I think that’s the point Badger, we are playing the same team tomorrow as we did in our good run and we beat them 2:1. We can do it again. UTV
Means nothing arsenal probably said the same thing about us when we played them first game.
I just hope he doesnt try playing Kozak and Benteke up front together!!
Without wingers? Yes, it wouldn’t work.
Good Morning Fellow Villans playing the same team as last week whom can;t win at home same team that can;t keep a clean sheet and no doubt the same old tactics and no doubt the result will be the same.Good job i will be watching the game in my local as i can drown my sorrows at the same time.Nothing as changed from last season only that we are fighting relegation earlier than last year.
lol don’t beat around the bush terry, say what you think.
personally, its match day and im hoping that last week was just a bad un.
UTV
Mate we all hope that but you must admit things are not looking good we at the moment seem to be just lurching along from one disaster to another there is no visible signs of improvement no three points today and thats it Lambert must either change or go.Nobody wanted Mark Hugh,s but look at the job he is now doing at Stoke.
I personally think we’ve got enough in our locker to beat Norwich, but Lambert’s got to play the right system. It’s quite a different Norwich lineup to the one we beat last year, so maybe we need to take a different approach.
we’ve got enough in our locker to beat Norwich definitely, my concern is just the manner in which we played last weekend, it was like watching us this time last season. like I said lets just hope it was a bad un and move on.
bit early to be lording huges at stoke terry, they’ve beat palace and west ham, and he didn’t do so good at man city n QPR with all their monies either.
same as its a bit early for the ‘lambert out’ mantra too.
Mate if no clean sheet or three points today then i will definately resign my pint mug to the broken glass bin in my local where i will be watching.