Villa sinks Birmingham City - 3 More Points!

Our Villa boys are still hard charging towards that 4th position in the table. Let's take 6 points as we close out the season vs City and Blackburn!

Man Utd helps; Gunners draw

Thank you Sir Alex - Man United helped us by beating Tottenham today 3-1.  (Although the groin injury that Rooney has may keep him out of the final league game - hopefully he can return in time for the WC).

Arsenal was held to a nil-nil draw with Man City - which gives City a point (not helpful to us, but better than City getting 3).

Tomorrow is a big derby game for us - Villa v. Birmingham City. The result could really determine if we have a chance to grab 4th place.

UTV!!

The Race to 4th Place

Here are the games that you want to keep close track of this coming weekend

(1) SATURDAY 4/24 Man Utd v. Spurs
 ("LIVE" ESPN2 4:30am (PT)/7:30am (ET) in the U.S.)
GO UNITED!

(2) SATURDAY 4/24 Arsenal v. Man City
("LIVE" Fox Soccer Channel 9:30am (PT)/12:30pm (ET) in the U.S.)
GO GUNNERS!

(3) SUNDAY 4/25 Villa v. Birmingham City
("LIVE" Fox Soccer Plus 4:00am (PT)/7:30am (ET) in the U.S.
UP THE VILLA!

Another 3 points for Villa!

Villa v Hull "LIVE"

Today's match against Hull City will be televised "live" on Fox Soccer Plus in the U.S. (KO 11:30 Pacific)

Villa grabs 3 points with win over Pompey

Portsmouth vs Aston Villa

	1 - 2
Date:  18/04/2010		Venue:  Fratton Park
Attendance:  16,523		Referee:  Lee Probert

	Portsmouth	Aston Villa
Goals :	1	2
Possession :	45%	55%
Shots On Target :	12	9
Shots Off Target :	4	3
Corners :	7	6
Fouls :	5	10
Most Fouls :	Diop (2)	Petrov (3)
Yellow Cards :	0	0
Red Cards :	0	0
Scorers :	Brown 10	Carew 16 Delfouneso 82

My predictions for the remainder of the season + final league table (top 8):


1. CHELSEA 38/86
1. Chelsea 35 gms/77 pts; 4/25 Stoke City (W); 5/2 Liverpool (W) ;5/9 Wigan (W)

2. MAN UNITED 38/85
2. Man United 35/76; 4/24 Tottenham (W); 5/2 Sunderland (W) ;5/9 Stoke City (W)

3.ARSENAL 38/76
3. Arsenal 35/71; 4/24 Man City (W); 5/3 Blackburn (D); 5/9 Fulham (D)
4. TOTTENHAM 38/70
4. Tottenham 34/64; 4/24 Man Utd (L); 5/1 Bolton (W); 5/5 Man City (L); 5/9 Burnley (W)

5. ASTON VILLA 38/70
6. ASTON VILLA 34/58; 4/21 Hull City (W); 4/25 Birm City (W) ; 5/1 Man City (W); 5/9 Blackburn (W)
6. MAN CITY 38/68
5. Man City 34/62; 4/24 Arsenal (L); 5/1 Aston Villa (L); 5/5 Tottenham (W); 5/9 West Ham (W)

7. LIVERPOOL 38/63
7. Liverpool 34/56; 4/19 West Ham (W); 4/25 Burnley (D); 5/2 Chelsea (L); 5/9 Hull City (W)

8. EVERTON 38/61
8. Everton 35/54; 4/25 Fulham (D); 5/1 Stoke City (W);5/9 Portsmouth (W)

Villa v Portsmouth LIVE

This coming weekend's Premier League match between Villa and Portsmouth will be televised "live" in the U.S.  On Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, 18 April 2010

8 a.m. (Pacific)/ 11 a.m. (Eastern)

Fox Soccer Channel

Villa Draws with Everton 2-2

Our Villa lads battled to a 2-2 draw with Everton yesterday with a fortunate Phil Jagielka own goal to help Villa find the equilizer in 2nd half stoppage time.  Despite earning a result, we really needed  3 points to stay in the chase for 4th place and Champions League qualification.  Catching Man City or the Spurs will be difficult, but leaping ahead of Liverpool into 6th would be great.   

As of today, the top half of the league standings look like this:

1. Chelsea (Played 34 Pts 77) - playing Spurs next   (GO CHELSEA!)
2. Manchester United (34, 73) - playing Man City next (GO UNITED!)
3. Arsenal (34, 71) - playing Wigan Athletic next (GO WIGAN!)
4. Manchester City (33, 62) - playing Man Utd next (GO UNITED!)
5. Tottenham Hotspur (33, 61) - playing Chelsea next (GO CHELSEA!)
6. Liverpool (34, 56)
7. ASTON VILLA (33,55) - playing Portsmouth next (C'MON YOU VILLA)
8. Everton (34,51) - playing Blackburn next
9. Birmingham (34, 46)
10. Stoke City (33, 43)

Villa v. Everton - Fox Soccer Plus

The Villa/Everton game will be televised on Fox Soccer Plus on Wednesday, 14 April @ 4pm (pacific; 7pm eastern).  Fox Soccer Plus - the new station added to the Fox sports soccer coverage. 

Disappointment at Wembley

Our Villa lads gave it a go in the first half and had a few chances to score, but couldn't take advantage of them.  Chel$ea's roster was just too strong and they prevailed 3-nil (with all three goals coming in mid 2nd half).  Holding the Blues to a nil-nil draw at halftime was a hopeful sign, but our guys appeared to become a step slow after Chel$ea's first goal (Drogba) and the rest was down hill for the Claret and Blue.

We had a great turn out at Kezar Pub this morning (photo to come).  I hope that they had the same in Santa Ana.

Aston Villa vs Chelsea

	0 - 3
Date:  10/04/2010		Venue:  Wembley
Attendance:  85,472		Referee:  Howard Webb

	Aston Villa	Chelsea
Goals :	0	3
Possession :	52%	48%
Shots On Target :	3	11
Shots Off Target :	4	6
Corners :	6	7
Fouls :	11	20
Most Fouls :	Carew (3)	Deco (6)
Yellow Cards :	0	3
Red Cards :	0	0
Scorers :		Drogba 68 Malouda 89 Lampard 90 + 5

Twitter

AVFC California is now on Twitter (@avfccalifornia).  I am just learning how to use it, but will do my best to "tweet" useful information about our club or Villa in general.  This should be fun to use during a match!

UTV!

(Thanks for the suggestion George!)

What is coming up for Man City? Tottenham? Liverpool? Villa?

Manchester City The next game for City is Birmingham City and then games against Man Utd and Arsenal. If we can keep winning and City can drop 2 out of 3....anything can happen!

Let's see, Tottenham has Portsmouth in the other FA Cup semifinal and then the following 3 premiership games: Arsenal, Chelsea, and Man Utd. looks good!

Liverpool: First has Benfica in a Europa League match, and then the following 3 Premiership games: Fulham, West Ham, and Burnley.

VILLA: We first have Chelsea in our re-match (FA Cup semifinal), and then these 3 league matches: Everton, Portsmouth, and Hull City. Not horrible.

My (TOTALLY BIAS) Predictions

Today
4. Manchester City (59)
5. Tottenham (58)
6. Liverpool (54)
7. ASTON VILLA (54)

Man City over Birmingham City, but losses to both Chelsea and Man Utd (+3)
Spurs lose to all 3 (Arsenal, Chelsea, and Man Utd.) (0)
Liverpool loses to Fulham, draws with West Ham, and beats Burnley (+4)
Villa, of course beats Everton, Portsmouth, and Hull City (+9)

After the next 3 Premiership matches:
4. Manchester City (64)
5. ASTON VILLA (63)
6. Tottenham (58)
7. Liverpool (58)

UTV!

Three Titanic Points!

Ashley Young scored in the 11" and Villa was able to hang on for a crucial 1-nil victory over Bolton. While I was monitoring the game on AVFC website (live interactive), I was watching the Tottenam match against Sunderland. Sunderland won 3-1 and helped Villa by not allowing a point to Spurs. Keep your eyes on fourth position - we are still in it! I was rooting for Burnley, but alas, they fell to Man City 6-1.
1. Chelsea (74) 33 gm
2. Man Utd (72) 33 gm
3. Arsenal (71) 33 gm
4. Manchester City (59) 32 gm
5. Tottenham Hotspur (58) 32 gm
6. Liverpool (54) 32 gm
7. ASTON VILLA (54) 32 gm

Bolton vs Aston Villa

	0 - 1
Date:  03/04/2010		Venue:  Reebok Stadium
Attendance:  21,111		Referee:  Michael Jones

	Bolton	Aston Villa
Goals :	0	1
Possession :	46%	54%
Shots On Target :	10	9
Shots Off Target :	4	4
Corners :	6	8
Fouls :	13	14
Most Fouls :	Robinson (3)	Collins (5)
Yellow Cards :	2	0
Red Cards :	0	0
Scorers :		Young 11