McCarthy: Villa Will Be Among the Challengers Friday, 16th Sep 2016 16:30 Town boss Mick McCarthy says he expects Aston Villa to be among those challenging for promotion this season, despite a disappointing start which sees them sitting in 17th ahead of Saturday’s game at Portman Road, their first visit to Suffolk since 2002. McCarthy believes Villa, relegated from the Premier League in May, have the players to be in contention but says they will be one of the clubs everyone else in the Championship will be desperate to beat this season. “I would think [they’ll be challenging] because of the size of the club and the players that they’ve got but every time teams play them, us included, it’s a big game. “It becomes a bigger game, with the greatest of respect, to playing against Barnsley or Preston or Birmingham, or Ipswich, for other teams, let’s include my club in it as well. “Playing Aston Villa’s a big game and I think everybody tries that little bit harder, so it makes it tougher and you’ve got to be better. “Newcastle seem to be doing that at the moment. Norwich seem to be doing that at the moment. I’m not lumping them as the same sort of club as Villa, but the fact that they’ve come down with all the riches that they’ve got and the stuff that they can throw at it there is a similarity.” McCarthy says it’s now not so rare to see clubs of Villa’s size in the Championship: “It’s kind of not strange any more because Newcastle have dropped in and if you think of the teams in our league that have been in the Premier League I think there are 18 at least. “There are some that are bigger clubs than others and they are a European Cup-winning team, so I get the point with that. “But it’s easy to fall out of the Premier League. I don’t know why, what’s gone wrong with it there, they finished sixth three times under Martin O’Neill.
“He left and then they were on the pig’s tail, they were spiralling downwards all the time for me from then on to where we’re playing them tomorrow. “But it makes for a sexy fixture tomorrow, Ipswich versus Aston Villa. I think it’s a great tie.” McCarthy says Villa boss Roberto Di Matteo will be looking for a result which can get his side’s season going, the Villans having picked up only one point on their travels this season, in addition to one win and three draws at home. “They’ll be looking for their platform, springboard whatever cliche we want to use to start it off,” the Town boss added. “They’ve had two draws on the bounce and been booed off on Wednesday. I was listening to it on the radio, Brentford equalised late on having played well in the second half, they’re a good team and they almost went on to win it. “That’s twice, they’ve had a 2-2 draw [at home to Nottingham Forest] and the one-all draw against Brentford on Wednesday. “They’ll be being asked similar questions to me but the other way around, ‘Would it be a great win? If you can win at Ipswich that could kickstart you, get you going...’, all those things. “We’ve got to make sure they don’t. It would be a great win for us if we can beat them here.” With Villa having largely used a 4-2-3-1 formation so far this season, McCarthy will probably start with in a system along the lines of the 4-3-3 which has become familiar in recent weeks. Bartosz Bialkowski will be in goal with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back, Jonas Knudsen on the left and Adam Webster and Christophe Berra at the heart of the defence. In midfield Cole Skuse is over his cold and is likely to line-up with Jonathan Douglas and Kevin Bru or Teddy Bishop. With Leon Best still a little way off full fitness, Brett Pitman will continue in the central role with Grant Ward on the right. Freddie Sears is back after missing Tuesday’s 1-0 win at Derby with a groin strain and could return to the side on the left, while Tom Lawrence impressed when coming off the bench against the Rams and might be handed his full debut. Tuesday's goal hero Luke Varney may also be pushing for a start but seems more likely to again be among the subs.
Tommy Smith is set for 12 weeks out as he is expected to require surgery on his back injury, while Luke Hyam (knee) and David McGoldrick and Jonny Williams (both ankle) remain sidelined. Villa manager Di Matteo says he knows what to expect from the Blues. “They are a team that will play a lot of crosses into the box," he told Villa's official website. “There’s going to be a big fight for second balls. We need to be ready for that — to be able to deal with the first ball and the second ball. “But also we need to realise that when we are in control of the ball that we do what we do best. We have our own threats too.” Right-back Ritchie De Laet is facing a long spell on the sidelines as he is expected to undergo knee surgery, while striker Ross McCormack is described as “very doubtful” for Saturday by Di Matteo, due to a more minor knee problem. Aaron Tshibola is expected to be available again after a hamstring problem, while Albert Adomah is back in training after a groin injury and Jack Grealish was also due to train today after a hamstring problem and the pair are “in contention”, according to their manager. Historically, Town have won 18 games (14 in the league) between the sides, 13 (11) have ended in draws and Villa have won 23 (19). The teams last met at Villa Park at the third round stage of the FA Cup in January 2012 when second-half goals from former Blue Darren Bent and Andreas Weimann saw Villa come from behind to beat Town 2-1. Mick McCarthy’s men had gone in 1-0 ahead at the break via Eric Lichaj’s own goal and might have been further in front before the home side’s comeback. The most recent league game between the teams was back in Town’s 2001/02 relegation campaign at Portman Road, a match which ended in a 0-0 draw and saw the Blues drop back into the bottom three.
Peter Schmeichel's leg and a post prevented Town getting the three points, although Blues keeper Matteo Sereni made two fine saves in the latter stages. Earlier that season at Villa Park two Juan Pablo Angel goals gave the home side a 2-1 win after Finidi George had put Town ahead with a low drive from 25 yards. No current Blues player has been with Aston Villa, although U18s coach Alan Lee was a youth player at Villa Park. No one in the Villa squad has featured for the Blues. Saturday’s referee is Tony Harrington from Cleveland, who has shown 30 yellow cards and one red in six games so far this season. Harrington, who was the fourth official at Derby on Tuesday, has only taken control of three previous Town games, the most recent the 2-1 defeat at Bristol City in February, in which he booked Kevin Foley and one home player.
Prior to that he took charge of the 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield last April, in which he booked Tommy Smith, Christophe Berra and one Terrier, and the 3-0 Boxing Day 2013 victory at Doncaster in which he yellow-carded just one Rovers player. Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Emmanuel, Knudsen, Kenlock, Berra, Webster, Digby, Skuse, Douglas, Bru, Bishop, Grant, Dozzell, Ward, Lawrence, Sears, Pitman, Best, Varney.
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