Britannia Stadium is packed as Aston Villa F.C. will be preparing to face firm EPL side Stoke City F.C. through playing an away match. Both EPL teams have not been able to obtain spots in the top three areas of the league table and will be looking to gain some points in this match. Aston Villa are not the outright favorites to win the English Premier League title this season 2010-11 and neither are Stoke City F.C. Ladbrokes bettors who bet on teams to win leagues do not favor the Villans as the strongest team this season 2010-11 so they have placed their money on Chelsea F.C. and Manchester United.
First-Half
Aston Villa were getting stretched during the first few minutes of the game as the Stoke City players became offensive. Stoke center forward Kenwyne Jones sent a through ball to Rory Delap during the 3rd minute but his efforts produced an offside. A nice run from the flanks by Delap during the 9th minute could have produced a goal for Stoke City as he dribbled his way towards the 18-yard box and unleashed a cross into it. Midfielder Marc Wilson’s clever through ball to Kenwyne Jones in the 11th minute was saved by goalkeeper Brad Friedel. The Stoke striker failed to lift the ball above Aston Villa’s goalie so that he could score a goal for his team. A low shot from Stewart Downing in the 16th minute was cleverly saved by awesome Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sorenson. A wonderful run by Etherington resulted in the first corner of the match during the 17th minute. Stoke City were playing interesting soccer in the first-half of the match. A fantastic header from Stewart Downing in the 35th minute was enough to help Aston Villa break the deadlock. It was a pinpoint cross from offensive player Agbonlahor which helped Downing to head the ball from the center of the box to the bottom right corner of it. Another brilliant cross from Agbonlahor to Ashley Young during the 40th minute resulted in no goal as the midfielder failed to score from a header attempt. Both Ashley Young and Bulgarian midfielder Stiliyan Petrov kept putting pressure on the Stoke defenders after the stoppage time emerged. The first-half ended with Aston Villa scoring 1 goal against the home side.
Second-Half
The second-half begins with a series of bad fouls as the players battle in the midfield for the ball. Danny Collins committed a very bad foul in the 45th minute of the 2nd half and he was shown a yellow card by referee Lee Probert. A powerful header by gigantic Stoke City center forward Jones during the 50th minute of the game was parried away by goalkeeper Brad Friedel. Former Liverpool F.C. player Jermaine Pennant replaced Marc Wislon as a substitute in the 65th minute to boost the midfield of his team and he made some efficient contributions to their plays. During the 69th minute, Agbonlahor took a direct free kick and belted the ball in the wrong direction to cause a goal kick to be taken. A stellar cross from speedy midfielder Etherington was enough for Jones to execute a header and score his first goal for Stoke City after his second coming. The home team had equalized during the 80th minute of the match. Nigel Reo-Coker had an opportunity to score a goal inside the penalty box during the 86th minute but Collins made a vital block to save his team. Stoke player Ricardo Fuller failed to score a goal from a glorious chance he had gotten in the 87th minute. A nice 94th minute goal from Robert Huth helped the home team to win against Aston Villa. There is no doubt that Aston Villa F.C. could have taken the fifth spot of the Barclays Premier League table by obtaining 7 points if they had held on.
Full-time: Stoke City 2-1 Aston Villa
Lineup
STOKE CITY
No. NAME POS
29 Thomas Sorensen (G)
25 Abdoulaye Faye (CD-L)
4 Robert Huth (CD-R)
5 Danny Collins (LB)
17 Ryan Shawcross (RB)
18 Dean Whitehead (CM-L)
12 Marc Wilson (CM-R)
26 Matthew Etherington (LM)
24 Rory Delap (RM)
9 Kenwyne Jones (CF-L)
19 Jonathan Walters (CF-R)
ASTON VILLA
No. NAME POS
1 Brad Friedel (G)
5 Richard Dunne (CD-L)
29 James Collins (CD-R)
3 Stephen Warnock (LB)
2 Luke Young (RB)
19 Stiliyan Petrov (CM-L)
20 Nigel Reo-Coker (CM-R)
7 Ashley Young (AM)
6 Stewart Downing (LM)
12 Marc Albrighton (RM)
11 Gabriel Agbonlahor (F)
STOKE CITY SUBSTITUTIONS
Substitutions
Ricardo Fuller for Jonathan Walters (61)
Jermaine Pennant for Marc Wilson (65)
Glenn Whelan for Rory Delap (87)
ASTON VILLA SUBSTITUTIONS
Substitutions
Emile Heskey for Gabriel Agbonlahor (87)
Related posts: