Here me out before you think I am mad; we could win tomorrow. We play better against the teams that come at us and Chelsea will come at us. Okay, chances are we will be beaten, but one thing you know we will see tomorrow is absolute determination and if we can stand firm and stop Chelsea scoring for fun, there is always a chance we can get one and you never know what will happen if we can get one and defend like our lives depended on it.
Our lives don't depend on it though. We could lose tomorrow but so could Spurs against Pompey, Everton could against Wolves, Liverpool could come unstuck against Sunderland and Manchester City could be further embarrassed against Wigan and Mancini could be sacked.
So, we could all lose, but we could also win too. I fancy we could all win and if you wanted that bet, you'd get 38/1 if you picked us, Manchester City, Everton, Spurs and Liverpool all to win at Paddypower.
What I am trying to get across is that while it is important we win as many matches as possible, we also need teams above us to lose and if we don't win, we have to be careful that teams below us do not catch us up. Bottom line - nobody can predict for sure who will finish fourth, we all have an idea who it might be, but there are still a lot of games to play.
Early Team News
I think the only change to the starting line up tomorrow will be that Heskey doesn't play. He, along with Ricardo Dunne and Milly had scans yesterday and while they could show that the players really do need a rest or that Milly has been playing with torn ligaments for the past month - I think they'll all want to play and that will be enough for O'Neill.
The boat has now sailed on squad rotation so we just have to hope that the players are full of Gu and ready for it. They are going to need to be tomorrow.
Prediction
It is easy for me to write that I think we can win this match, but we can. The bookmakers however are usually right and we are 15/2 while Chelsea are 2/5. The draw is 10/3 and I fancy that might be a good bet but if you were a betting man and had to place a bet, where would your money go?
I'm not betting on Villa any more, although I have to admit I did pick Chelsea, Everton and Spurs to win and us to draw the other night which did return at 30/1, which was a nice surprise in the morning as I distinctly remember taking out the Villa draw because I wasn't betting on Villa any more and because I was convinced we were going to win - but I'm not going to argue with the bookmaker.
We can win. It is possible and the players have to believe that. Martin O'Neill will make them believe and I think that is what it will come down to tomorrow. It isn't going to be about tactics tomorrow either, it is about battle; fighting for every single ball and attacking at every given opportunity.
Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack. Anyone know where that comes from? Google it if you don't, but it is true of tomorrow.
Video of the Day
I'll be looking for some of it this weekend and this is one of my favourite songs of all time, from one of the best bands ever. Maybe we can talk about best bands today rather than regurgitate the same old Martin O'Neill is he good enough or not and are we moving forward if we finish 6th for a third consecutive season debate from the last few days? The league table doesn't lie and we are four points off fourth - so it is all still possible. Let's just want and see what happens at the end of the season. {rokbox title=|The Jam :: Aston Villa Blog Video of the Day| text=|Click here to watch.|size=|640 505| album=|demo|}http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv55WsedLYI&autoplay=1{/rokbox}