Long wait ends as Aston Villa back in front of full house
No club has waited longer to play in front of a capacity home crowd than Villa.
Few teams in the Premier League have seen their fortunes transformed quite so much in the intervening time, either.
Tomorrow’s visit of Newcastle will see the stands of Villa Park packed out for the first time in 553 days. On the last occasion the majority of those supporters were present in B6, the outlook appeared bleak. An error by Bjorn Engels, deep into stoppage time, handed Tottenham a 3-2 win and Villa increasingly looked a team destined for relegation.
The journey for Dean Smith and his players since then has been little short of remarkable. As a team, Villa are close to unrecognisable in more than one sense.
Of those players who started against Spurs, only Ezri Konsa, Matt Targett, Anwar El Ghazi and – fitness permitting – Douglas Luiz are likely to feature tomorrow.
Engels is no longer at the club. Neither are Danny Drinkwater, Pepe Reina, Mbwana Samatta or Jack Grealish.
A host of players, several of whom have been on the books for close to 12 months, will experience playing in front of a sold-out Villa Park for the first time in home colours, among them Matty Cash and last year’s player of the season, Emi Martinez.
Smith will hope the return of supporters in such big numbers fires up his team in the same way it did Watford last weekend. There were times when the opening day fixture at Vicarage Road felt like a cup-tie and Villa, particularly in the first-half, failed to match the intensity of their hosts.
While the focus for now remains on how Villa are coping with the departure of Grealish – no matter how much it might irritate Smith and his players – the absence of Ollie Watkins was felt just as keenly against the Hornets.
Last season’s top scorer is the man who sets the tempo in attack with his energetic pressing game. Though big things are expected of Danny Ings, the £25million signing is not the same kind of player and without Watkins, Villa were unable to exert sufficient pressure whenever the Watford back four had the ball.
Another man who might find his place under threat is Matt Targett. The left-back missed just 20 minutes of last season on his way to being voted players’ player of the year but the new campaign could hardly have begun worse.
Targett was taken off after just 45 minutes at Vicarage Road having been given the runaround by Ismaila Sarr. The winger was marshalled far better by Ashley Young in the second half and the latter could start at left-back if he is not again required in an attacking role.
That will likely depend on the fitness of Leon Bailey, who looked lively in a 30-minute substitute cameo at Watford but has only been back in training for a week and may not be ready to start.
Former Villa captain Tommy Elphick has announced his retirement at the age of 33. The defender was the club’s first signing following their 2016 relegation when he joined from Bournemouth for £3m but was limited to just 46 appearances in three years at the club.
