Tough at Turf Moor and Downing’s return

There are always questions that surround a MON team selection and more so after a 5-1 defeat of Bolton. A lot of managers would stick with the same team and keep to a winning side. However with Collins having played so well and Petrov having a decent season and captain will MON revert to the tried and trusted team and in many ways put himself under a lot of pressure.

How would Reo-Coker and Luke Young react to being dropped after such good performances ?

But that is what MON is paid to do, he has to make the calls in the best interests of the team and more importantly to get the three points we need to sustain a challenge for the top 4. MON has shown throughout the past few years that he does not bow down to fan pressure and is 100% responsible for his own decisions and that is how it should be.

So on at Turf Moor on Saturday we know what we will face, a very good home team who likes to knock it about and harass the opposition a lot. There should be doubt that this will be a very tough game, it will be tight but I really think the pace up front against slowish defenders will cause a lot of problems for Burnley.

Some very good news today about Downing who played 90 mins and scored in a behind the closed doors friendly against Lincoln, very good news for us and all Villa fans are excited at seeing him return as the options he gives us are immense.