Aston Villa v West Brom: Updates, team news and speculation

Gabby and Luke Young are out of this match and some will think this disastrous, I don't. What I mean is, Gabby hasn't scored in the League this season, while The Fonz has played 50% less League games and has.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Gabby and I think he is best as a lone striker, I'm just not convinced we are playing to his strengths or creating the opportunities for him, so The Fonz should see this is an opportunity and I think he will take it.

As for missing Luke Young, we have Eric Lichaj that is a right-back and has played it very well for us in the past and personally, I have no worries with him starting. With Carlos Cuellar fit again, it will also be excellent to see him start and hopefully he'll do enough this time to convince the manager it is his place.

I'm talking about Cuellar starting as if I know, but I don't. What I do know is if he doesn't start, someone needs to sit down with the manager, slap him about a bit and make sure he gets the message that Cuellar is fit. Collins and Dunne are playing like they've been on the piss the night before and we need to try something else.

It will also be nice to see Albrighton and Bannan playing together and while I like Hogg, I think Clark allows Bannan to get more involved and I think we need to see Bannan more involved. I'm not sure if Webcam should walk straight back into the team, but I imagine he will and Downing will be involved also.

The team doesn't read that bad - it's just now we are left to wonder if they are going to start playing for this manager. We all know they can on their day, we just need to see it again and they need to want it.

Aston Villa v West Brom

Updates

As soon as we get some team news we will publish it, but I think it will be pretty much as expected. I also have no doubt there will be a bit of banter today below and feel free to drop any links you see fit and if you find anything else slightly amusing, please share.

Saturday speculation

This is just a rumour but we need one to fill this space. We are apparently interested in Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor and I love it. I love it that we are getting linked to this type of player and not Kevin Doyle. I love Gabby, but when he might get 13 goals a season, the likes of Adebayor will get 20 and that is the difference.

Right, that is it for now. I'll be back later, but before we go, we have some words from the CEO. Is this the public backing he would have got from the Chairman if our Chairman ever spoke to us?

Paul Faulkner
It's 'as you were' for us. It's not even a vote of confidence, as nothing has changed. He is incredibly hard-working and doing everything he can.