NY Villans Update - Premiership Week 7. HUGE game.

Been one hell of a start to the season for the boys in Claret and Blue and this Sunday we have our first top of the table clash since, well since the Arsenal game a couple of seasons back but as that happened to be the first game of the season and by top of the table it was purely alphabetical, well it really didn't count. 
Now however, Villa sit in 3rd place and this Sunday we face Chelsea who are just 1 point above us in first. I think we all remember the Villa Chelsea clashes of last season a tasty 2-0 win in Villa park followed by the game to end all games a stunning 4-4 classic in Stamford Bridge. Surprisingly moneybags Chelsea have not beaten Villa since O'Neill became manager our last loss being a 2-1 away defeat in September of 2005 so it appears we have become Chelsea's Bogey team. This coupled with a number of injuries give us a chance to break Chelsea's astonishing 85 game streak undefeated at home and perhaps top spot in the Premiership for the first time since god knows when. 

Obviously it wont be easy but expect a cracking match which will be live on Setanta Sports at 10am EST. Those of you in the New York area be sure get yourselves down to Nevada Smiths for this one.


In other news Villa are in the draw for the group stages of the UEFA Cup after sealing the place with a 1-1 draw against that Bulgarian team yesterday. I watched bits of the game and honestly there's little to report. O'Neill picked 6 reserves, Marlon 'Rabies" Harewood delivered a cracking goal and the useless ref gifted them a penalty after Carlos Cuellar put in a quality tackle inside the are winning the ball a little too cleanly for said officials liking. There was little entertainment for the unfortunate few who went to the game but with Villa through to the next round, no injuries and some players rested the rest of us can have no complaints.

That great bastion of Pulitzer level journalism that is the Sun did a two page spread on the Villa relationship with Acorns that is well worth a read here: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1758019.ece The Acorns sponsorship continues to be a source of much pride for every Villa fan not too mention great publicity for the club.

Run out of things to say, our next game after Chelsea wont be until the 18th in order to give Fabio Capello another opportunity to snub the fantastic Ashley Young and for those of us who could care less about the English team (namely this Irishman) long may it continue.

Till next time, up the Villa!