Friday 19 September 2008

West Brom v Aston Villa Premiership Preview: Bednar To Feature For Baggies, While Young A Major Doubt For Villa

West Bromwich Albion take on Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa in their Premier League match at the Hawthorns on Sunday.

Tony Mowbray’s Baggies go into this home clash with the Villans full of confidence after their first win of the season last week 3-2 against West Ham United, which has seen the Midlands side climb out of the bottom three at this early stage of the Premiership season. New signing Borja Valero was instrumental in the win against the Hammers on his debut and Mowbray will hope his new Spanish midfielder can build on the performance.

Villa stand 4th in the Premier League, with O’Neill really starting to build a capable team at Villa Park and will look to secure their third away win in a week after a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur last Monday, followed by a 3-1 UEFA Cup tiumph against Bulgarian outfit Litex Lovech on Thursday.

Mowbray will still be without long-term absentees Neil Clement (knee) and Felipe Teixeira (ACL knee), along with summer signing Gianni Zuiverloon, who is a major doubt with a hamstring injury, while the Baggies wait on the fitness of Abdoulaye Meite (calf) and striker Ishmael Miller (knee), which could hand a start to Roman Bednar.

Villa are sweating on the fitness of winger Ashley Young, who picked up a knee injury against Spurs, with John Carew (ankle) likely to miss the trip to the Hawthorns along with Steve Sidwell (knee) and Wilfred Bouma (Foot). Carlos Cueller could make his Premier League debut for the Villans.

West Bromwich Albion: (from) Carson, Kiely, Hoefkens, Robinson, Cech, Barnett, Koren, Greening, Bednar, Brunt, Beattie, Do-Heon, MacDonald, Moore, Dorrans, Pele, Slusarski, Martis, Olsson, Morrison, Valero, Donk.

Aston Villa: (from) Friedel, L Young, Laursen, Barry, Milner, Harewood, Agbonlahor, Delfouneso, Davies, Knight, Salifou, Routledge, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Shorey, Guzan, Cuellar, Gardner, Osbourne, O’Halloran, Taylor.

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