Back to Winning Ways & Another Nemesis Awaits

Villa rebounded nicely following the somewhat disappointing return fixture with Arsenal. Forest didn’t present too many problems beyond the “breaking down a low block” issue that stymies many a side. I sort of miss the “parking the bus” days, but I suppose we have to make room for analytical progress.

One thing I did stumble across from someone noteworthy is the acknowledgment that it really often is a moment of individual magic that’s required to prise open those kinds of set-ups. And we got one via Ollie, whose return to form either signals a desire to move in January or that he’s simply got his head and feet sorted. I jest. Sort of. Maybe it was Rogers stealing his thunder or his knee just feels better.

Regardless, Ollie got the breakthrough, Forest then had to open up, and Super John McGinn recorded his first Premier League brace to make sure of all the points. And I do appreciate the observers who note that despite the goalkeeping gaffe, it was still a quality finish to curl the shot inside the post. I also appreciate SJM’s ever-present honesty in admitting that Emery was telling him he needed to get in there and start scoring. He obviously took it on board.

With all the other results basically going our way, it was a good weekend. Twenty down, 18 to go, and a somewhat improbable 11-point gap to fifth. Still hard to believe we’re eight better than pool to this point, or that we’ve notched three more victories.

In short, it’s been a very good run, especially since it contained wins over Arsenal, United, Chelsea, and City. Serve held. The returns? We end up breaking even at best. So it’s all the other games that count. Like the upcoming visit to Selhurst Park.

While we’re used to United being in our heads and Chelsea now pressing us to the limit, Palace have become a real thorn as well. Content to defend and break at speed, they’ve succeeded in setting us back, not least in last year’s FA Cup semi. 3-0 seems to be their favored scoreline.

Like certain other approaches, it’s the match-ups that kill us, namely the aforementioned speed. We get pulled up, they knock it downfield (with quality, to be sure), and we can’t prevent clean, easy looks on goal. So, I’m hoping we’ve seen enough of that.

A big part of that success, though, comes down our lack of bite in midfield. In many of our recent matches we see the opponent really closing on whoever is receiving the ball centrally facing our goal. It often results in a foul, other times a turnover. Sometimes we turn, but the idea is to leave no room or opportunity to turn. If you don’t get the ball, take the foul. It stops our central progression. And without real wingers to ping it out to, it’s effective. We don’t really do that, which facilitates those passes to run on to.

I’d like to think there’s a better answer from us either way, but we’ve yet to see it consistently. Villa obviously have more than one liability, but that’s a big one—a nasty, quick, committed midfielder that gets there when the ball does.

Beyond that, probably the biggest influence on this particular meeting will be absences. We’ll be without Onana, again, which is becoming really frustrating. Beyond that, the usual in Mings and Torres, Barkley, too. Guessand is still in Africa, which isn’t as big a miss as Sarr for Palace. Palace’s injury list still isn’t clear.

Then we have the possible effects of Glasner being on short-lists and Palace open to Guehi moving on. It could be an unsettled side. But we also know Guehi’s looming move in the summer didn’t affect him at all, and Palace won’t roll over. They also come in on a poor run of form, and we all know how that often works out for us.

An intriguing match, in the end, and another hump we have to get over. Be nice to get three points, and close out this stretch strongly before returning to Europa nights. It only gets harder from here and the longer we can keep Liverpool and Chelsea at arm’s length the better. Villa have done all they can to position themselves for the second half and now we wait to see whether they can maintain the required pace.

Over to you.