Sunderland Vs Aston Villa

As expected the game started with Sunderland playing with a real intensity, combining an ability to play neat one touch passing and some purposeful long balls down the flanks. The creative duties were assigned to Andy Reid, Kieran Richardson and Jordan Henderson, the latter showing some quick feet and an eye for goal. Mostly it was left to the forwards, Daren Bent and Kenwyne Jones to fashion there own space and opportunities. For all their effort they were consistently marshaled by Richard Dunne and Carlos Cuellar with genuine commitment and discipline.

Aston Villa on the other hand are set up for the counter attack, Emile Heskey was preferred as the lone striker and was supported by Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor in wide positions. They are capable of changing there shape quickly, moving between 4-5-1, 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 with a flexibility that is becoming more impressive as the game grew and they started to assert themselves, particularly in middle of the pitch.

It was Aston Villa who opened the scoring, although the goal appeared nice on the eye it was interlaced with a number of mistakes from Sunderland. Initially giving the ball away in their own half, allowing Stiliyan Petrov to bring the ball forward, patiently laying the ball inside for James Milner who found himself in space towards the Sunderland penalty area was able to release Heskey who lashed the ball into the bottom corner. Unfortunately for Sunderland there stand in right back, Nyron Nosworthy was left ball watching at the edge of play leaving two Aston Villa players including Heskey comfortably onside.

The Villa manager Martin O'neil has shown great ability in utilizing James Milner in the center beside Petrov. He is a player previously undermined by his versatility now seems capable of thriving in a creative birth. This was evident in Aston Villas second goal which only needed Milner, this time showing strength as he first held of a challenge from Richardson and then, as the ball appeared to be bouncing away adjusted himself to hammer the ball into the top corner from around 25 yards. It's not just Milner that displayed Aston Villas flexibility because Stuart Downing now looks to be cementing himself into the line up with impressive displays playing more centrally than he is use to. Showing awareness to support the full back and attack adds balance to the side as does his set-piece ability, almost scoring if it weren't for the cross bar in the first half.

Sunderland did have opportunities though and Andy Reid in particular should have done better and scored at least one of his two opportunities. The first was a volley on the edge of the area as he met Henderson's pull back only for the Villa goal keeper to rush across and parry the ball to safety. The second came from Daren Bent who won a header that released Reid onto goal but managed to slice the ball wide at the near post. A technically more demanding chance but it fell invitingly in a central position and Aston Villa were able to see out the game in comfort.

Final Score - Sunderland 0-2 Aston Villa