Villa’s recent performances helping their bid for European football

A pickup as of late?

Transcript

00:00Charlie, looking at Aston Villa and their form as of late now, we'll touch on the draw

00:05against Liverpool. Champions, they are going through it a little bit at the moment in terms

00:09of their form and maybe the pressure could slightly be just getting to them despite that

00:14sort of big gap they have at the top of the table. Obviously, the Merseyside derby draw

00:18they had as well. Aston Villa were fantastic against Liverpool at Villa Park and this is

00:24sort of something that really helps your confidence going against the champions toe-to-toe with

00:29them, hosting them at home and coming away with a point where it could have really gone

00:33either way. What was your sort of take from that game and how much sort of positivity

00:38can United and Merseyside and the fans actually take from now until the end of the season?

00:44I think it was definitely a big step in the right direction, that Liverpool game. You

00:47go into it, you think Arnaslott's team, they're too strong, they're going to go and win this

00:51one. It'll be a very difficult task to get just the point and it was difficult, don't

00:54get me wrong, but Villa went a lot more toe-to-toe than you would expect, especially with all

00:59the injury problems at the moment. They might have the likes of Marco Asensio and Marcus

01:03Rashford adding to their already amazing attacking options, but at the back, they're really threadbare,

01:08you know. Paul Torres being out, Matty Cash recently, Ezra Condor as well, Boubacar Kamara

01:13recently leaving the team through a back injury as well. A lot of Tyrone Mings is a bad player,

01:18but he's not quite the level of Paul Torres. Then Axel Desarze only just settling in, he's

01:23not quite got the structure just right yet. Andres Garcia, inexperienced at right back.

01:28So many frailties there. And in defensive midfield, Tielemans and McGinn are fantastic

01:32players, but they've had to play pretty much every minute recently and the fatigue will

01:35set in at some point. But that didn't really show against Liverpool and there was a mistake

01:39from Garcia for the first goal that Salah scored, giving the ball away to Jota needlessly.

01:44But if it wasn't for that, I think Villa defended pretty well in that game. One mistake maybe

01:49from Mings when Nunez ran through on goal, but went toe-to-toe, as I say, and it was

01:53very promising. But it is five games in a row now in the Premier League without a win.

01:58That is worrying, but it is a step in the right direction, as I say, and they can take

02:01confidence from that before they play Chelsea.

02:03Yeah, there's sort of slight inconsistencies throughout the season. But if you are a Villa

02:09fan and you look at the prospects of where this season could actually turn into, you

02:13know, the tie, favourable tie in the FA Cup, favourable tie in the Champions League, I

02:18mean, this could be probably the most memorable season under Unai Emery if things do go a

02:24bit more to plan than they'd hoped.

02:27Possibly, and I think with the injuries at the moment, those players should come back

02:32by the time the favourable ties are out the way. So, of course, Bruges isn't easy. Cardiff,

02:37anything can happen in the FA Cup, we know that. Plymouth beat Liverpool, for goodness

02:40sake, but a favourable tie there. Once you get through those, you're in kind of late

02:45March, April time, and then you can start thinking about having your key players back.

02:48So, Villa should be in renewed strength, and I'm very confident, and the fans will be

02:52confident as well, and Emery, that they can progress in these compositions. Such an

02:56exciting end to the season. Let's hope it all goes to plan for them.