Not only did they win 2-0 at Arsenal, they thoroughly deserved it. Aston Villa had lost two disappointing games against Newcastle and Middlesbrough and it had started to look as though their claim to be considered as potential top four team was simply a false dawn.
Then they turn up at The Emirates and outplay Arsenal,. Despite the home side having over 60% of the possession as they normally do, Villa were quicker and sharper than them all over the pitch.
They are now back level on points with Arsenal and it might just be that the top four could get broken up.
I don’t like doing this because I’ve got a soft spot for them and I like the way they approach their games, but West Brom got beaten 3-0 by Chelsea, and let’s be honest, they were lucky to get nil!
The Baggies now sit rock bottom of the table and it is very difficult to see them getting off of it. They simply concede too many goals and don’t score enough.
Tim Howard completed his one hundredth game for Everton last week and has the best record in terms of goals conceded in that number of games of any Everton keeper in history. That includes the great Neville Southall so it is indeed a record to be proud of.
Since leaving Manchester United, where his early promise faded somewhat, he has rarely been in the spotlight, but he turns in consistently good performances for Everton and their relative success owes a lot to the American keeper.
There isn’t much you can say about the start Heurelho Gomes has made to his Tottenham career. It couldn’t have really gone much worse. On Saturday he managed to fumble a cross into his own net and he now has enough errors in three months to release his very own goalkeeping bloomers video in time for Christmas.
If Harry Redknapp doesn’t bring a keeper in to the club in January I’ll be shocked.
When people pick their best England XI it is very rare for anyone to pick any centre half other than John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. Whilst I agree that these are two exceptional players it might not be too long before Aston Villa’s Curtis Davies starts to get a mention.
He has been called up to Fabio Capello’s squad for the game against Germany and with Terry and Ferdinand absent, he might get a chance to show what he can do.
He was faultless against Arsenal on Saturday and seems to be getting better and better.
The Hull v Manchester City game gave us a few contenders for this award! I’m going to go for Manchester City’s stand-in centre half Tal Ben-Haim.
Coming off the back of three straight defeats and undoubtedly feeling the pressure mount on him, Mark Hughes will have told his team to keep it tight early on. Ben-Haim’s woeful back pass on fourteen minutes, intercepted by Daniel Cousin will have had the boss fuming.
In amongst all the Samba flair and high price footballers hanging around at Eastlands these days is a little Irish midfield player who rarely gets a mention amongst the Elanos, Robinhos, Jos and Wright-Phillips’ of this world.
On the evidence of Manchester City’s draw at Hull yesterday, Stephen Ireland is their best player. It wasn’t just the two goals he scored but his running, probing and passing were the most effective tools the side had. When Mark Hughes spends his multi-millions in January it would be a shame if this man was left out in the cold.
Paul Ince plucked Keith Andrews from the obscurity of his old club MK Dons. He has a great deal of faith in his old captain and has asked him to do a job in the Premier League.
I may be horribly wrong but in the games I have seen, Andrews is simply not up to it. He is hard working and I’m sure he has many qualities that I haven’t seen. At the end of the day, who am I to argue with Paul Ince?
This has to go once again to Nicolas Anelka. Ever since I said he was simply not good enough for Chelsea or indeed the Premier League itself, he hasn’t been able to stop scoring.
Another two goals on Saturday, including one exceptional finish, confirmed him as the top scorer in England and continued to ram my words down my throat!
Jermaine Defoe has established himself as one of the country’s top strikers. New Portsmouth manager Tony Adams will be looking for his team to create as many chances for him as they possibly can.
So, on Saturday, when his players managed to create three separate one on one chances for Defoe, Adams would have expected to leave West Ham with more than a 0-0 draw.
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