Aston Villa Fan View: Looking ahead to playing the Blues

It’s Derby Day on Sunday, as a slowly-improving Birmingham City side travel just a few miles down the road to an Aston Villa team who have won their last six games.

‘Form goes out the window’ many pundits, managers and fans cry about these games, and on this occasion, I probably agree. Villa are under huge pressure to win, not only to keep up with the frightening pace set by Derby County in the chase for the Premier League promised land, but also to record a seventh win on the bounce against their biggest rivals.

Birmingham City will really want to upset the apple cart, and they would rightly see a draw as a good result, so it’s a tough one to call.

City have been on the up recently, and are now four points outside the relegation zone following wins against Reading, Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday, scoring a total of eight goals in the process. Steve Cotterill has finally got his forward line firing, so Villa must be wary, especially after Villa conceded two goals to Burton Albion just last week.

Villa have only one long term injury in Jonathan Kodjia, and the rest of the squad is fit. I expect to see the same team that has been on this winning run, but I am sure there is pressure that Axel Tuanzebe sees game time sooner rather than later, the Man United loanee did not come to sit on the bench.

Attacking

It would be great to see more attacking options on the bench, as Andre Green is now fit, and Callum O’Hare continues to impress for the reserves, but this would mean that either Glenn Whelan or Mile Jedinak would drop out of the 18 all together.

Steve Bruce has deservedly won manager of the month, as Villa catapulted themselves from outside the top six to one point short of automatic promotion, and even though this is a derby game, Bruce must think that Villa really need to win this if they are serious about getting into the top two.

Normally, I would always be OK with a draw in a derby but given that Villa have 16 games to secure promotion, we have to win as next week we travel to a Fulham side who are bang in form.

The game is live on Sky Sports at 12pm on Sunday, with Villa Park sold out for the first time this season. My final note, my thoughts are with Steve Bruce and his family this week, following the loss of his father.

Holte Ender in the Sky. UTV