Dan gives us his preview ahead of the vital trip to already relegated Aston Villa, can Saints heap more misery on the Midlands club ?

Last week’s trip to Goodinson Park was disappointing from the view of what we got from how we played. Two points dropped and after last night’s results Saints sit 8th in the Premier League, 5 points off of 6th placed West Ham.

This will be Aston Villa’s first game of being officially relegated and the atmosphere isn’t expected to be “electric” amongst home supporters.

Everyone would expect Saints to give Villa a good beating to give confidence going into the last 3 games but now it’s official that they’ll play in the Championship next year they may want to hold some momentum going into next season’s quest for promotion.

Villa have already visited St. Mary’s twice this season, once in the League cup and in the reverse fixture of the Premier League. Performances form Saints in both games weren’t convincing. A 2-1 win in the cup and a late equaliser against the away side to make the league match finish 1-1.

Now we’re the visitors and pictures of Villa Park haven’t made the once fantastic ground too appealing with vast seas of empty blue seats with the odd loyal supporter. Saints fans will probably bring most of the noise and atmosphere to Villa Park, especially if several goals are scored for the away side.

I’m predicting a 4-1 win for Saints, I can’t see Villa getting anything from this match and we are in good goal-scoring form, however we keep leaking goals since our impressive clean-sheet record.

My line-up:

Forster, Cedric, Fonte, van Dijk, Bertrand, Romeu, Wanyama, Rodriguez, Mane, Long, Pelle.

Martina has been playing in the right-back position for a couple of games now but I still favour, Cedric in these crucial remaining games. Clasie has been good for me but I think Romeu had some good performances when Wanyama was suspended and one day he will score one of his fantastic long-range efforts.

Now that he’s back I want to see Jay Rod start in a game, this could be a great opportunity to score some goals and get confidence high.

Photo: Action Images

arthurfane added 01:06 - Apr 22 Where have you gone Nick? Please come back, this writing is terrible
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SaintNick added 08:14 - Apr 22 Don't be so critical, the guy is finding his feet in writing these previews, they are intended to run alongside mine rather than replace them, to give an alternative viewpoint.
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Consigliere added 11:08 - Apr 22 Actually I thought that this was a pretty balanced article. The point that Dan is making is a good one: In theory we ought to thrash a terrible team that is going down and has nothing to play for. In practice, this can sometimes be difficult because a team that has nothing to play for also has nothing to fear, and will not bring with them the anxiety that leads to mistakes. I see this as being a very open game, because Saints will want to score early and score often and Villa won't be too worried about shipping goals but will just try to score more than we do because they might as well have some fun whilst they are still in the premier league. Provided we manage one more goal than they do, all well and good!

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DPeps added 13:20 - Apr 22 I like having the 2 viewpoints so keep up the good work Dan and Nick. Doesn't mean I agree with them all the time, but that's the point of the forum
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