I'm going to get stuck in to the stats and then I'm going to give you a prediction. I'm not going to talk up the game because that has been done by others and you don't need me to tell you how important this game is.
And this game really is important. Defeat will see madness descend on the site and Twitter, while a draw will make the rest of the day simply quite depressing.
And the thing is, if we win and we should, it might not feel as good as it does, unless we play the right football and what the right football is and isn't is going to be tough to see.
We should have the possession today as Cardiff are not going to come at us and we should have the chances. So I'm not sure, even if we win by five, that today will mean anything other than we got what we were expecting to.
Some statistics
- We have conceded the opening goal in seven of our Premier League fixtures this season, the joint highest figure in the division
- We've only won 10 of the last 43 league fixtures at Villa Park and not kept a clean sheet in the last 16
- Lambert has won more away league games (seven) as manager of Aston Villa than he has at Villa Park (six)
- It is six hours and 15 minutes without a goal for us since Weimann got the winner against Manchester City on 28 September
Those numbers don't look good do they. Hell, if they don't get better soon and some start calling for Lambert to go, would you blame them?
Prediction and odds
We'll win this today. I simply can't see any other result. This really should have home win written all over it and the bookies seem to think this too. You'll get 11/10 at Paddypower here.
And seeing as that prediction was over so quickly, here is another; Cardiff will be relegated soon enough. And I don't mean to offend, but they've got an owner that thinks he his bigger than the club and the manager will be gone soon enough (probably when they have a poor start to next season).
And after they get rid of the manager that brought them up, they'll struggle. It will probably be Craig Bellamy that takes over and relegates them too. Local boy and all that. Or maybe that should be old boy and all that.
I'm getting stuck in now, so I'm going to leave for a bit, but team news and updates throughout the day.