Key events
“An excellent observation about Keith Andrews’ immovable hair, Daniel,” ingratiates Justin Kavanagh, “which seems to have stood up well to the rigours of a Premier League winter season. Unlike his similarly well-becoiffed predecessor at Brentford, whose once carefree and windswept barnet seems to be wilting more every week at Spurs.”
He’s more Norman Lamont.
Oh my days, Mateta and Sarr rob Badiashile, the former goes in on goal … and there aren’t many who love ruining a one-on-one more than him. He takes it right up to Sanchez, then hits it hard but not in the corner, and the keeper saves; that was Romelu Lukaku finish, the easiest option taken when just a little bit of extra precision or power would’ve made it impossible for the keeper.
Now Villa attack at SJP, Buendia shooting from distance and Pope, another signing PSR prevented Howe from making, saving easily enough.
It’s been a fast start everywhere: at Brentford, Schade goes down the left, crosses, and Jesus slides in, nicking an effort just wide of the far post.
Casillas, Ramsdale, Martinez: keepers with a habit of stopping shots almost by accident, saving balls that appear to have beaten them.
Now off to Newcastle, where brilliance from Tonali, taking a pass from Joelinton a few yards outside the box and dipping past one challenge, swaying away from another then cutting around a third, and he’s in front of goal! He might leave the shot to Wissa but he’s earned the right to take it on and finish one of the goal of the season. He shots low, Martinez dives the wrong way …. and stops the effort with his feet, a Casillas classic!
Off we go in our three games and immediately, Chelsea attack at Palace, Esetvao drilling a cross-cum-shot through the corridor but to no one.
Email! “Similarly to you,” begins Andy Flintoff, “I find it very hard to be sympathetic towards clubs that currently have two internationals in every position and would, if you allowed them, buy up the rest of the top international talent in the world, and all the U-21s too, if only to stop everyone else buying them.”
There’s something about the wheedling way Eddie Howe complains too – there’s no flair or joy to it.
Now looking at Chelsea, they’re iffy in the middle of defence but solid in the middle of midfield, while lacking a bit of class up front. Rosenior likes to build through the middle, but against Palace’s 3-4-3, the spaces are out wide, so I’d expect the full-backs to bomb on, with Neto and Estevao cutting in and heading for goal.
Palace will, I think, look to stretch the play, with Adam Wharton firing passes into Mateta and their two 10s roaming the space behind the Chelsea midfield.
Newcastle will, as ever, look to run their opponents off the pitch andwith Wissa preferred to Woltemade, are looking to attack the space in behind; really, neither is a lone striker, they need to play together. But in the meantime, they’ll look to get the ball wide, looking for low crosses and cut backs.
Villa will want to build and overload centrally, with Sancho, Tielemans and Buendia looking to slip Watkins in behind, while Rogers does what he wants. They may struggle to compete in midfield, with only Onana having physicality comparable to Newcastle’s three, but they’ve a lot more quality on the ball which they’ll be hoping tells.
Otherwise, remember this?
Ah, now Howe is speaking, and he says Guimaraes isn’t too bad but not good enough for today; he might be ready for midweek. But Miley is a good replacement having a breakout moment, well on his way to becoming a fixture in the side and restored to his preferred midfield role following a sojourn at full-back.
Newcastle are hitting their stride at home, but Villa are good, so his team need to be good on and off the ball, and if they are, they’ve a chance.
Emery says Newcastle are strong at home and get energy from their supporters. They also have very good players, but Villa are so motivated to see how they can win. He thinks three points are very important – great words – and so is the table. More news as I get it.
Back to Newcastle, though, earlier in the week, Eddie Howe was grizzling about the constraints of PSR. Must’ve been a different Eddie Howe who bussed in the region of £150m on Anthony Elanga, Jacob Ramsey and Yoane Wissa, part of the £700m+ he’s spent since taking the job. It’s a tragic tale.
Unai Emery, meantime, makes five changes to his Villa side, Lucas Digne, Marco Bizot, Victor Lindelof , Lamare Bogarde and Tyrone Mings left on the bench, replaced by Ian Maatsen, Emiliano Martinez, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Amadou Onana.
Now to St James’ Park, where Bruno Guimarães will not play after hurting himself in midweek; he’s replaced by Lewis Miley, while Dan Burn and Will Osula are fit again, so on the bench.
Anyhow, Rosnior also makes three changes: Benoit Badiashile, Andrey Santos and Estevao come in, with Plamer and Tosin missing out entirely, while Alejandro Garnacho in relegated to the bench.
Oh, but here’s Rosenior, explaining that Cole Palmer isn’t fit to play today, but has a chance of making Wednesday’s trip to Naples.
He notes that the league is close and physical, but he has good players and is excited to see where the project goes – the club “demands winning in this moment”. There aren’t many days on the training pitch, but he hopes the work they’re doing with the team and with individuals are working.
He’s already beaten Palace this season, with Strasbourg, but this is a different challenge and he knows he’s facing a good side who are strong on set pieces.
He seems a nice lad, but it’s not hard to see a squad making sport of his manner if results don’t come quickly.
Though JP Mateta wants out of Palace, he’s in the XI this afternoon, with Glasner making three changes: Yeremy Pino, Justin Devenny and Will Hughes drop out, with Daniel Muñoz, Jaydee Canvot and Ismaila Sarr coming in.
Forest, too are unchanged, Sean Dyche happy with is side’s performance in a goalless draw at Arsenal.
Keith Andrews, whose hair hasn’t moved in at least a year, not unlike Douglas Hurd’s Spitting Image puppet, retains faith with the side which lost at Chelsea last weekend. Jordan Henderson returns from injury, but must content himself with a place on the bench.
But before we do, get on this:
Right, now let’s go through the changes, after which we’ll explain them and ponder what we might see…
Teams
Brentford (4-3-3): Kelleher; Kayode, Ajer, Collins, Henry; Jensen, Yarmoliuk, Janelt; Damsgaard, Thiago, Schade. Subs: Valdimarsson, Hickey, Van den Berg, Pinnock, Henderson, Nelson, Ouattara, Lewis-Potter, Donovan.
Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1): Sales; Williams, Murillo, Milenkovic, Aina; Sangare, Anderson; Dominguez, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi, Igor Jesus. Subs: Gunn, Morato, Treat, Ndo, Hutchinson, Yates, McAtee, Bakwa, Savona.
**
Crystal Palace (3-4-3): Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Canvot; Muñoz, Lerma, Wharton, Mitchell; Sarr, Johnson, Mateta. Subs: Benitez, Pino, Uche, Hughes, Sosa, Imray, Riad, Rodney, Devenny.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; James, Chalobah, Badiashile, Cucurella; Santos, Caicedo; Estevao, Fernandez, Neto; João Pedro. Subs: Sharman-Lowe, Achemang, Fofan, Stream, Hato, Garna, Garna, Getten, Delap, Guide.
**
Newcastle United (4-3-3): pope: Tripier, Botman, Thaw, Hall; Joelon, Miley, Tonali; Barnes, Very, Gordon. Subs: Ramsdale, Osula, Elanga, Woltemade, Willock, Burn, A. Murphy, Ramsey, Shahar.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen; Onana, Tielemans; Sancho, Buendia, Rogers; Watkins. Subs: Bizot, Lindelof, Digne, Mings, Bogarde, Hemmings, Bailey, Elliott, Guessand.
He knows how many days it is since Brentford lost 3-1 to Forest on the opening day, saying it was a big day for his team. His players wanted to go over the game, which he thinks is good, and notes that it was only 45 minutes of pain really – his team won the second half.
Results were important early on, he continues, he wanted the team ti play with an edge, and he’s happy with how it’s going. Tactically, he thinks Brentford are playing with more control, some of which is confidence and some of which is training-ground work, citing the contribution of Vitaly Janelt whose presence facilitates that. Early in the season, Brentford weren’t playing as he wanted them to, but they’re closer to it now.
We were about to begin with some teams, but Keith Andrews is on Sky, so let’s go there.
Preamble
The spread of fixtures across a footballing week and weekend is, of course, a complete nonsense, imposed upon us by avaricious suits who think football exists to make (then) money rather than makes (them) money because it exists; unfortunately, we need to start there. But once we’ve noted that, it’s hard not to luxuriate in this afternoon’s buffet, three matches each of which is enticing enough to stand alone.
Villa sits seven points off the leaders and must win today if they’re to sustain the invigorating pretence that they’re in the title race. Newcastle, meanwhile, are only three points off fourth place and nothing if not a physical challenge, especially at home. They’ll be a tough test for visitors showing signs of flagging.
Chelsea, meanwhile, are still settling under Liam Rosenior, while Oliver Glasner’s Palace are falling apart. They may have enough points to avoid being hauled into relegation aggravation, but a couple more defeats – easily imaginable, especially with Marc Guéhi getting gone and JP Mateta planning to do likewise – along with a couple more wins for West Ham – less so but they are improving – and they’re right in it.
Nottingham Forest, meantime, already are, just two points clear of the bottom three. And in Brentford, they find a side many of us felt would be where Sean Dyche’s men are, but instead are absolutely loving life under Keith Andrews, pushing for European football. Like the best buffets, it might not be pretty but will definitely be intense, so let’s get a tray and dive into our ill-gotten gluttony because what else can we do?
Kick-offs: 2pm GMT
