MATCH THREAD: " ASTON VILLA v CARDIFF CITY " MATCH THREAD

ASTON VILLA v CARDIFF CITY
Friday 28th February, 8pm
Sky Bet Championship
Cardiff City Stadium 


Sold over 5850 tickets now for Friday at the Villa .but there are a very limited tickets number still available due to returns etc..contact ticket office and they will try to assist.


Cardiff were offered 6,500 Tickets / They took 5,850 Tickets

Up to Wed 26/02/2025 Their are Still Tickets Available



OMER RIZA:


“ We have a 25 man squad “

“Jak Alnwick, Jesper Daland, Ollie Tanner, Joe Ralls and Will Alves are out injured.”



“We'll go to Villa and give our best.”

“It will be a mix of first team, under 21s and under 18s.”








TEAM NEWS:

Ramsey and Rubin Colwill Both Available:



Omer Riza:

“Jak’s had a bad tear in his hamstring. That will rule him out probably until the end of the season. It’s a shame for him and a shame for us because he’s been excellent.”

“Will Alves took a whack on his knee against Plymouth and it swelled up. We’re managing that and hopefully that’s not too serious.”

“Joe Ralls pulled his calf before the Plymouth game, hence why we couldn’t get him on and why Rambo had to play 100 minutes. It’s one of those things where he came back and it had gone. That was disappointing. I know people were asking questions about why Rambo was playing and why Rallsy wasn’t, what a stupid substitution that was, but they don’t know the situation is behind it. I think that’s two or three weeks.

“Joel Bagan managed to get himself on the bench today. We were a bit concerned about how tight his hamstring was. We managed that for him to be on the bench and come on, which is positive.

“Rambo played 100 minutes so to ask him to be involved would have been asking too much. Let’s see how Friday goes, maybe he can get involved on Tuesday, that could be debatable.”











VAR will be in operation, including semi automated offside and in stadium announcements of VAR decisions by the match referee Peter Bankes

Live on ITV1

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Club Connections

Peter Whittingham played for both teams.

A few years ago, there was a charity game at CCS between the two teams in his memory.

The Opposition's Manager

Unai Emery has been Aston Villa manager since October 2022.

He has done a remarkable job - taking them to the Last 16 of the Champions League this season and they will hope to go further.

He previously managed clubs such as Sevilla, PSG, Arsenal and Villarreal.

Opposition Dangerous Players

Villa will likely make changes.

But the likes of Watkins, Rogers, Asensio, Rashford, Malen and more would cause problems for any team.

Head To Head 

We have won three of our last five against Aston Villa.

The last competitive meeting was in 2018.

Team News - Predicted Line-Ups

It is expected that both teams will make changes to their team.

Last Game

In the league, we won 1-0 against Hull on Tuesday. We won at Stoke in the last round.

Villa lost 4-1 at Crystal Palace on Tuesday in the league. They beat Spurs in the last round.

Match Odds

Aston Villa - 1/5
Cardiff City - 16/1
Draw - 6/1

Predictions

Post your predictions below 

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We had 5,500 Tickets.

There are still about 50 Tickets Available if anyone needs one

Villa lost 4-1 at Crystal Palace tonight.

Someone's being a little optimistic in the poll.

TEAM NEWS:

Omer Riza:

“Jak’s had a bad tear in his hamstring. That will rule him out probably until the end of the season. It’s a shame for him and a shame for us because he’s been excellent.”

“Will Alves took a whack on his knee against Plymouth and it swelled up. We’re managing that and hopefully that’s not too serious.”

“Joe Ralls pulled his calf before the Plymouth game, hence why we couldn’t get him on and why Rambo had to play 100 minutes. It’s one of those things where he came back and it had gone. That was disappointing. I know people were asking questions about why Rambo was playing and why Rallsy wasn’t, what a stupid substitution that was, but they don’t know the situation is behind it. I think that’s two or three weeks.

“Joel Bagan managed to get himself on the bench today. We were a bit concerned about how tight his hamstring was. We managed that for him to be on the bench and come on, which is positive.

“Rambo played 100 minutes so to ask him to be involved would have been asking too much. Let’s see how Friday goes, maybe he can get involved on Tuesday, that could be debatable.”

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The Villa view:

- We have been massively inconsistent all season, summed up by the last couple of weeks. Beating Spurs in the cup, drawing v 10 man Ipswich, drawing v Liverpool, beating Chelsea and then getting hammered at Palace.

- Emery changed our formation and whole set up for some reason last night and treated Palace like Real Madrid away. He started with Rashford, Asensio and Malen on the bench so I'd expect at least two of them to start against you.

- We're like two different teams at home and away. At home we haven't lost in the league since our first home game v Arsenal, and we should have beat them but Watkins missed two open goals. Also unbeaten at home in the Champions League, although we did lose to Palace in the League Cup with a rotated team. Away we've won once in four months. If the game was at your place I'd definitely be worried and be tipping an upset.

- Defensively we're a shambles. We've only kept 3 clean sheets in the league all season, with only the bottom 3 having less. Strangely though we've kept 4 clean sheets in the Champions League, including Bayern and Juve at home.

- We seem to go 1-0 down nearly every game, and we've conceded from the opposition's first shot on target 17 times this season which is just ridiculous. You'll definitely score, but hopefully it's just a 90th minute consolation.

- When we play with tempo and move the ball quickly we are one of the best teams in the league and I'd back us to beat anyone at home. When we slow it down and try this build up that every modern manager is obsessed with, we can be boring and it's a hard watch.

- We're a very reactive home crowd and what's going on on the pitch dictates the atmosphere (like most home crowds these days). If we're struggling or playing that slow, boring, build up I mentioned the crowd can get very restless and flat. If we're playing with tempo and the Holte End get up then VP can be electric and one of the best in the country.

- Looking forward to giving El Ghazi a great reception, as long as he doesn't score! He was excellent for us for where we were at the time and of course scored in the play off final to help us get promoted.
There's also been mention of a big flag for Peter Whittingham, which would be a nice touch.

City were offered 6,500 Tickets:

They took 5,850

Their are still tickets available:

City were offered 6,500 Tickets:

They took 5,500

Their are still tickets available:

Any idea why the club have been releasing 20-30 tickets at a time for the past week? 2 more rows at the front of the North Stand and seats either side of the stairways in the Doug Elis. Must be 300-400 extra tickets and no mention of it from the club. Are they part of the initial 5,500 or extras Villa have given us?

They were doing it for Plymouth as well. Was the reason I was able to go. Not really sure why they're doing it like that.

Villa will smash us.

City were offered 6,500 Tickets:

They took 5,500

Their are still tickets available:

Any idea why the club have been releasing 20-30 tickets at a time for the past week? 2 more rows at the front of the North Stand and seats either side of the stairways in the Doug Elis. Must be 300-400 extra tickets and no mention of it from the club. Are they part of the initial 5,500 or extras Villa have given us?

Because each Supporters Clubs take up allocations and then return after tickets not sold.

So it always looks like it’s a sell out in 48hrs as they take up about 50% of the Allocations then return each return what’s not sold about a week later.

Sold over 5850 tickets now for Friday at the Villa .but there are a very limited tickets number still available due to returns etc..contact ticket office and they will try to assist.

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

OMER RIZA:


“ We have a 25 man squad “

“Jak Alnwick, Jesper Daland, Ollie Tanner, Joe Ralls and Will Alves are out injured.”



“We'll go to Villa and give our best.”

“It will be a mix of first team, under 21s and under 18s.”

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

What do you think the team will be, I’ll start with I think these will play…

Hovarth, Fish, Lawler, Davies, Colwill, Ashford

Unai Emery labelled both Emi Martínez and Tyrone Mings “doubts” ahead of Aston Villa’s FA Cup fifth round tie with Cardiff City on Friday.

The Villa boss met with the media for his pre-match press conference at Bodymoor Heath on Thursday afternoon, where he gave a fresh injury update on the back of Tuesday’s trip to Crystal Palace.

The Argentinian goalkeeper was withdrawn with injury at half-time at Selhurst Park, and Emery admitted his is unsure as to whether or not both he and Mings will be fit, though revealed Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara are closing in on returns.

He said: “Tyrone Mings, as well, doubt. Emiliano Martinez, doubt. Barkley is not for tomorrow. Onana, doubt. Kamara, doubt. They are close to coming back, but we will see this afternoon.

“Malen, he is sick, but hopefully he can recover for tomorrow. Being sick is different, but it depends.

“More or less, this is the news about the players, how we will be tomorrow.”
The Villans will train at Bodymoor Heath this afternoon, after which Emery will have clarity on which players are fit to face the Bluebirds.

With Pau Torres continuing his recovery from a broken metatarsal, and Matty Cash still sidelined after being withdrawn 20 minutes from time against Chelsea, the Villa boss suggested none of his players would be risked unnecessarily at Villa Park. Axel Disasi is again cup tied.

He added: “We will train this afternoon... to watch on the field how they are, the players. More or less, without the risk or without pain to be available for tomorrow, we will decide.

“But only the players, they are still being injured, like Pau Torres, like Matty Cash - close, but we will see this afternoon. Pau, not.”

Looking forward to tonight. Don't expect a result but should be a decent occasion with 6,000 City fans there.

Hopefully a decent atmosphere, has been on our previous visits to Villa Park.

Could be embarrassing I'm hoping whatever side we put out we give it ago and don't sit back to much

Bluebirds

Wish Robinson was not starting…. But I hipe he plays well…. And works hard!

Bluebirds

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Very strong Villa Team:

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Little burst through Ramsey and then Willock, who turns one or two defenders - but is then stopped.

Brilliant support by Cardiff

Roy Keane and Ian Wright watching the Bluebirds

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Villa controlling the game

Roy Keane and Ian Wright watching the Bluebirds

It's a stinger from Rashford but Horvath gathers well.

Villa in total total control

The difference in quality and Villa are not a top Premier team

Good defending by Fish

Going to be difficult as villa got their 1st team defenders on pitch