Aston Villa vs Bolton Wanderers- Match Preview
Aston Villa were the side making headlines during the summer transfer market. Firstly for the much anticipated departure of James Milner to Manchester City, following which team manager Martin O’Neill also decided to part his ways
with the club. There had been number of names thrown in the hat for the new manager and finally Gerard Houllier, the former Liverpool boss took the job. The Frenchman however has not been able to take charge of his team yet due to his commitments with French
Football Federation (FFF). Houllier is not expected to end his ties with FFF by the weekend and Kevin Macdonald will manage his team against Bolton this weekend.
Aston Villa are expected to field a conventional 4-4-1-1 formation. Gabriel Agbonlahor is expected to be the lone man upfront who would also be used as a target man. Luke Young, the winger blessed with immense pace will be filling
in the spot just behind the striker and will try to feed his striker at every possible opportunity. Midfield is expected to be dominated by former West Ham captain Nigel Reo–Coker, Petrov Albrighton and Stuart Downing. Downing , the left sided midfielder has
not been able to live up to the promise that he showed while playing for Middlesbrough. Ever since moving from Midlands club he has not been able to perform at the same level. However as left footed English players are still a commodity he is expected to have
a have a major impact on the match. The American giant goalkeeper Brad Friedel continues to guard the goal, while defence will see Setve Dunne, Luke Young, Collins and Steven Warnock.
Bolton on the other hand are expected to go in with a much different approach. To counter the 4-4-1-1 formation Owen Coyle is believed to be lining up his team as 4-2-3-1. Kevin Davies is expected to be the only man in attack.
Lee , Elmander and Petrov will be playing in the midfield. The 3 man midfield is expected not to go all out on attack considering it is an away game, while Holen and Muamba will be providing cover to the backline. In goal will be Bogdan while Stiensson, A
O’Brien, Zack Knight and Robinson will make up the defence.
The caretaker manager Kevin Macdonald till now has managed a 50% record in the league, with 2 wins and 2 losses in his temporary position.
Both wins for Villa this season came in home games, and have not looked as convincing in away games. So another home game will be an advantage for Macdonald’s team. As far as Bolton and Villa’s recent encounters are concerned,
Aston Villa has scored 13 goals against Bolton in their last 13 home games. Last season the same fixture ended 5-1 in favour of Villa.
Kevin Davies is the man most booked in the Premier League, and his last 4 league matches he has got a caution each. If he gets a 5th card he will miss the next match.
John Carew and Stephen Ireland are both still not available due to a hamstring problem, however they will go through a late fitness test and may feature on the bench. Fabian Delph is also still out due to a knee injury.
In the last 11 visits to Villa Park, Bolton have won only twice, Jussi Jaaskelainen and Gary Cahill are suspended.
Aston Villa last season were dubbed as one of the teams to break the top 4 monopoly in the English game. For most of the season they did look on track but in the end could not keep pace and fell away. This season Villa are once
against expected to finish in top 5 at least but the team will be able to answer questions properly only when Gerard Houllier takes over.
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