Chelsea 1 - 1 Spurs
After three weeks, there is not a single team that has a 100% record. Chelsea and Liverpool were the only clubs to win their first two matches, but they both were held to draws over the weekend. Chelsea took the lead when Darren Bent's attempted clearance went in the Spurs goal off Juliano Belletti, who was making a rare start.

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On the face of it, a 0-0 draw away at a side with genuine top four ambitions isn't such a bad deal especially if your best two players are out injured. Such justifications may be easy to find yet it is wrong to find comfort in them for the truth is that Liverpool could have won at Villa Park. For all the hype surrounding them, with their hyped up wide players being kept quite Aston Villa didn't show anything special. Click to continue reading...

Rafael Benitez suffered a torrent of abuse and saw his Liverpool side miss out on the chance to go top of the Barclays Premier League after a goalless draw at Villa Park.

Aston Villa fans taunted the Reds boss with chants of 'There's only one Gareth Barry' after the collapse of the England midfielder's move to Liverpool, and some of the crowd aimed personal insults at the Reds manager. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was satisfied with the point his side secured away to Aston Villa, but believes his men need to improve their final ball if they are to challenge for a top-two finish.

In a drab affair at Villa Park, both teams lacked potency in the final third as Robbie Keane, Martin Laursen and John Carew spurned the only real clear-cut chanced of the game. Click to continue reading...

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In the Carling Cup Third Round Draw, QPR will play Aston Villa (at Villa!)
Matches will be played the week of September 22.

Could you be tough, depending who Aston Villa actually play on the night: - Aston Villa's Current First Team Squad!
1 Brad Friedel Goalkeeper
2 Luke Young Defender
3 Wilfred Bouma Defender
4 Steve Sidwell Midfielder
5 Martin Laursen Defender
6 Gareth Barry Midfielder
7 Ashley Young Striker
9 Marlon Harewood Striker
10 John Carew Striker
11 Gabriel Agbonlahor Striker
13 Stuart Taylor Goalkeeper
14 Nathan Delfouneso Striker
15 Curtis Davies Defender
16 Zat Knight Defender
17 Moustapha Salifou Striker
18 Wayne Routledge Midfielder
19 Stiliyan Petrov Midfielder
20 Nigel Reo-Coker Midfielder
21 Nicky Shorey Defender
22 Bradley Guzan Goalkeeper
26 Craig Gardner Midfielder
27 Isaiah Osbourne Midfielder
29 Stephen O'Halloran Defender
48 Nathan Baker Defender


Complete Round Three Draw

Arsenal v Sheffield United
Brighton & Hove Albion / Manchester City v Derby County
Burnley v Fulham
Portsmouth v Chelsea
Blackburn Rovers v Everton
Rotherham United v Southampton
Swansea City v Cardiff City
Ipswich Town v Wigan Athletic
Stoke City v Reading
Leeds United v Hartlepool United
Watford v West Ham United
Manchester United v Middlesbrough
Liverpool v Crewe Alexandra
Aston Villa v Queens Park Rangers
Sunderland v Northampton Town
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
- Complete Third Round Draw Click to continue reading...

Picture from The Telegraph via Getty Images. Maybe Tony Pulis was right. Mamady Sidibe's header gives Stoke City a shock 3-2 win at the Britannia Stadium. If you heard me this week on The Third Half, I pretty much mocked the fact I pulled this game out of the hat to do as one of my two full [...] Click to continue reading...

Picture from The Telegraph via Getty Images.

Maybe Tony Pulis was right.

Mamady Sidibe's header gives Stoke City a shock 3-2 win at the Britannia Stadium.

If you heard me this week on The Third Half, I pretty much mocked the fact I pulled this game out of the hat to do as one of my two full match reviews.

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To finish in the top five would represent a fantastic achievement for the Villans this season, although they might need a few extra provisions going forward. After all, while John Carew and Gabby Agbonlahor make a formidable partnership, there's not a great deal of cover for what will be a ... Click to continue reading...

Something funny to start our post. For this, we'll go to Nicolai V. Gogol and his story, Ivan Fyodorovich and His Aunt. The setting: how will a newcomer recognize Stepan Ivanovich? "You will recognize him at once for he is the only one to wear printed cotton trousers and a yellow cotton coat. And here is another sign by which you may recognize him: when he walks he always waves his arms about. Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa

2007-08 RECORD League 6th FA Cup3rd round Carling Cup3rd round

Manager Martin O'Neill. Had a difficult summer, paying £5m for a Chelsea reserve and £2m for a 37-year-old and handling the Gareth Barry situation with less than his customary aplomb. Click to continue reading...

I read this article by Jose Moran from Fox Sports.com and I disagree with a lot of it. Its very easy these days to criticise Gareth Barry, but to say that he betrayed Aston Villa is taking it a bit far. You have to try and look at the situation from his perspective for a minute. Gareth Barry has given his all to that club for many years and they continue to be a team that will finish in the top half of the table, with a slim hope of challenging for a place in Europe. Click to continue reading...

In one of my recent poll questions, which you can find on the left-hand side of the homepage underneath the blog archive, I asked which story you believed to be the biggest so far this summer. One of the choices was Gareth Barry and his desire to leave Aston Villa for Liverpool, and although I can't remember the exact number, it got its fair share of votes. Click to continue reading...

Its another sad day for MLS as another top young American player is leaving to go abroad and play in Europe. Brad Guzan has left Chivas USA to go play for Aston Villa, as had been rumored for quite awhile. Its a good move for Brad Guzan in that Aston Villa are a club that expects to be in the top 10 of the English Premier League and competing for a place in Europe every year. Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa's Norwegian striker John Carew recently gave an interview about his thoughts about the recent sale of skipper Gareth Barry. It is a bit long, but I felt like it was worth posting since it gives a good state of affairs over there at Aston Villa. Carew said: "What is happening with Gareth is part of [. Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has always been a hige admirer of his Norwegian international striker John Carew and insists that Carew has the potential of becoming a 20-goal hitman and one of the best strikers in Europe. The Ulsterman says: To see John up to the nine-goal mark is great - and there's no reason why [. Click to continue reading...

Norwegian international striker John Carew is in red-hot form these days with Premiership high-flyers Aston Villa and declares that he wants to stay at Villa Park longer. Carew, formerly at Valencia and Lyon, is tied to Villa until 2010 and insists that he is so happy working with manager Martin O'Neill and the club that he [. Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa youngster Ashley Young is getting heaped with praises after an excellent season with the Midlands club. First it was his team mate John Carew who hailed the 21-year England international and now his club manager Martin O'Neill has showered him with more praises. O'Neill says: After a very good opening game against Newcastle, the [. Click to continue reading...

Norwegian international striker John Carew has seen it all with Valencia and Lyon and knows a thing or two about quality. So when he speaks highly of young Aston Villa team mate Ashley Young, we may as well believe him. Carew even backs the Villa youngster to carve out a permanent place in the England [. Click to continue reading...

At the heart of Aston Villa's 4-1 comeback demolition of poor old Newcastle United was a certain hat-trick by a certain John Carew who was nothing less than sensational in the match. Everyone at the Villa Park on Saturday felt so and Villa manager Martin O'Neill is no exception. The Ulsterman says: He is fantastic. Click to continue reading...

Not many strikers coming from mainland Europe manage to find their feet as quickly in the English Premier League as Aston Villa striker John Carew has. Martin O'Neill signed the Norwegian international in January last year from French giants Lyon and the player has been successful from day one. Sky Sports reports that Carew is happy [. Click to continue reading...

Martin Laursen is threatening to be Aston Villa's top goalscorer this season, with six to his name already. This includes three goals in his past five matches, a ratio anyone apart from Cristiano Ronaldo would be proud of right now. His ability to find the net (as well as some pretty stout defending! Click to continue reading...

Saturday, January 12th Arsenal 1, Birmingham 1 The Gunners were held by a feisty Birmingham squad at the Emirates. Arsenal dominated but nothing was put by Maik Taylor after Emmanuel Adebayor's penalty (controversial of course) was converted in the 21st minute (it was his 13th EPL goal of the year). The Blues then muffled Arsenal's momentum the [. Click to continue reading...

Back to it in the league after an eventful international break, which included Micah Richards first international goal, Elano scoring and been sent off and Stephen Ireland deciding that honesty is never the best policy, for full details of that bizarre story click here.

Sven and Micah have also been named Manager and Player of the month for August. Click to continue reading...