Premier League preview: Hull City v Aston Villa
Iain Dowie probably doesn’t own an iPod, judging by last week’s tirade at how Apple, “big earphones” and the generic hip hop that footballers tend to listen to is harming Hull City’s chances of avoiding relegation.
Perhaps he should buy one. Maybe a little “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor would inspire him and his team? “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor for the Tigers of Hull? It’s probably best to avoid “Down Down” by Status Quo though.
For down is where Hull appear to be heading. Unless that is, they can earn a vital three points when Aston Villa visit the KC Stadium tonight.
The Tigers have clawed just four points from Dowie’s five matches in charge, or rather his five matches as “temporary football management consultant”, but the damage done by defeat tonight could be permanent. With well-publicised financial problems, after a 4-1 defeat to Burnley in their last home match and with players apparently more interested in iTunes that in Iain’s Tactics, they are odds-on to go down.
Three points behind West Ham – who were woeful at Anfield on Monday – this is their game in hand, this is their opportunity to draw level with the Hammers with just three games remaining, this is their chance to emerge from their headphones to really give the KC Stadium faithful something to sing about. But they are facing one of the best sides in the Premier League.
Martin O’Neill and Aston Villa have had an excellent season.
Using the fewest players in the division, O’Neill guided Villa into the final of one cup competition, the semi-finals of another and is still in with an outside chance of Champions League qualification in the campaign’s home straight. In many ways, that’s where his frustration lies.
Villa have been the nearly men of the campaign. They lost twice at Wembley to two of the bigger, more expensively assembled boys, and look like coming up short in the challenge for the top four simply because they’ve run out of steam.
The recent rumours surrounding O’Neill and his future seem to centre around the belief that he’s taken the club as far as he can, not an uncommon occurrence in his old jobs, where he appeared to reach a glass ceiling and was unable – or wasn’t given the tools – to break through.
Fresh investment in the squad over the summer should ensure that that isn’t the case this time around, although the recent rumours of a supposed exit for James Milner will leave O’Neill with a familiar feeling of dread. Villa supporters should feel that dread too, theirs will be a much poorer club without both the England international midfielder and his Northern Irish manager.
Dread could be a common emotion at the KC Stadium tonight, with Hull desperate to ensure that their second consecutive season in the top flight isn’t their last, and Villa knowing a win is vital to keep in touch with Tottenham in fourth.
That nervousness could transmit to the pitch, with both sides determined not to lose. Defeat for Hull, and it will be Dowie’s voice that will deliver the ear-bashing at full-time.
That is a tune is none of the players want to hear.
Prediction: Hull City 1 Aston Villa 1
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