Dirty Leeds at Villa Park, some facts, a video and time to be taken seriously

Is it just me or is there something wrong with the internet? It must be me, so I'll deal with that later. Today it's about Leeds and a win for us would see us go seventh for Christmas but a more interesting thing to know is that if we drew, we'd end up 8th, from eleventh. It's getting tight.

And dirty Leeds are a decent side, so it wont be easy. But before we get to the match, if you didn't know we've also signed Lovre Kalinic from gent this week on a four and a half year deal. He's a goalkeeper that isn't coming to sit on the bench so you sort of have to feel sorry for Orjan Nyland.

Nyland hasn't had the best start to his time with us but hopefully this might be the kick that he needs. Kalinic joins in January, so he has three fixtures to make an impression. Put in man of the match displays or not make a single mistake and command your area (yes, a lot easier said than done) and it will be hard for the manager to drop him. You could say this is his real opportunity.

But today isn't about keepers, it's about dirty Leeds. And dirty Leeds find themselves within touching distance. A win today would see them go top with a six point gap to the team in third. Today is one of those matches we need to win to be taken seriously. Win like we did against Middlesbrough and we will be.

Match facts from the BBC

• Aston Villa are unbeaten in their past three matches against Leeds United, drawing twice whilst winning the most recent fixture - 1-0 at Villa Park last season.
• Over the 84 previous league meetings between Aston Villa and Leeds, both sides have won 28 matches each, while also playing out 28 draws.
• No team has scored in more Championship games this season than Leeds United and Aston Villa (21 each).
• Aston Villa are unbeaten in seven games (W4 D3), although they've conceded 11 goals in their last five (netted 16 in return).
• Leeds United have won five consecutive league games for the first time since December 2009. The Whites last embarked upon a longer such run during a nine-game streak ending in September 2009.
• Aston Villa striker Tammy Abraham has had a hand in 39 goals in just 57 Championship appearances in his career (35 goals, 4 assists), netting 12 and assisting one this term.

Video of the day

Back on Boxing Day

So, with that written, time for breakfast and a little walk around the village. I should also say Merry Christmas I suppose. It is the season for it.