I'm not sure this a good thing or not but I don't remember much from last night. And some of you might be thinking that it's probably an every week thing for me, but most of the time when I refer to having a drink or two, it literally is one or two. It's just to unwind. But last night turned into something and the worst thing about it all is I don't remember.
And these nights don't happen that often and right now I'm scared to leave the bed to see what's happened or engage with the wife as I have a very distinct feeling that I promised her something last night. Guys and gals, I'm worried.
And the reason for telling you this is simple; it's Saturday and this is the most important day of the week. Sometimes you just need Saturday to come around to remember. As for everything else, I'll have a can of Irn Bru, put on Football Focus and all will be good with the world again even if I'll get the cold shoulder until Tuesday.
Best striker in Europe
So with that written, it's the match and I know there is a lot of optimism and we have every right to feel a little optimistic, but we're only two points from the relegation zone. This is an important match and with the best striker in Europe in our side, that's going nowhere in the summer because nobody can afford him, we've got every chance of winning and moving one step closer to survival.
So maybe we should look at West Ham ahead of the match and you know, if it wasn't for their owners and their supporters not really knowing what they want, I'd quite like West Ham. They currently sit ninth in the table and they've got supporters calling for the managers head because they want to see entertaining football. I'll tell you what, if West Ham fans want entertainment they should head into town and Shaftesbury Avenue.
But something a little more surprising is that West Ham are the 19th most valuable club according to this Forbes list. West Ham and most valuable, just doesn't make sense to me but when you do a bit of digging you learn that they've actually won the FA Cup three times, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the World Cup. Things were different back then.
Joking aside, because this is a serious business, we need to win today and if you look at the current form table, they're actually doing really well. Hell, West Ham are ninth in the Premier League just behind Swansea and Southampton. Oh how things are different today.
Updates and team news
So, now the day is getting a little older and it's taken me three hours to get to this point in the post, so I think it important to highlight again that we need to win. I also the opportunity wouldn't be fully utilised if I didn't also say that and if an average football manager like Allardyce can take an even more average club like West Ham to ninth and in with a shout of European football, you have every right to be optimistic as an Aston Villa fan. But if we can't beat West Ham, then maybe we're just an average football club with an average manager, with a blindly optimistic view of things.
So now that the Irn Bru is wearing off, it's time to prepare you for team news and the match. We'll have one about an hour before the other and I'll be here all day, sort of and if the wife lets me be. She seems to be preparing for battle and even though I know she's probably right, a fight with the wife isn't a good fight unless you put all your effort in.