Football Live

Saturday December 22, 2007 Finished Villa Park

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Aston Villa

  • Carew 14’

Manchester City

  • Bianchi 11’
  1. Gritty City hold luckless Villa

    Gritty City hold luckless Villa

    Manchester City held on for a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa, a result that means they will spend Christmas in the Premier League's top four. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Aston Villa
    • Manchester City
    • 90+2' No way through for Villa, and they must settle for a point once again. They have not won this month, but City will spend Christmas in the top four.
    • 89' It is desperation defending from the visitors, who have everybody back and are getting battered. But Villa cannot deliver the knockout blow and time is running out.
    • 86' Long ball over the top for Agbonlahor who is through... but Hart rushes out and blocks it. Did he handle outside the area? It seems he did not! City hanging on here!
    • 83' Another big opportunity for Villa as Reo-Coker wins possession and has Agbonlahor alongside him... but he delays an age and is tackled by Ball. Rubbish from Reo-Coker.
    • 81' A real chance for Martin Petrov, who arrives six yards out at the right-hand post but volleys wide!
    • 78' Oh, Carew! Everything was right about that but the finish! The big man brought the ball inside from the left, shifted it onto his right foot and then shanked a horrible effort straight at the corner flag.
    • 76' Off goes Elano, to be replaced by Garrido. City clearly going for a draw now.
    • 74' Elano, who has been some way below his best, shoots from a very long range free-kick but sends his effort over.
    • 73' Villa make a change: Stiliyan Petrov on for Shaun Maloney.
    • 70' Interesting (and not necessarily positive) substitution from Eriksson, bringing on Vedran Corluka for Hamann.
    • 69' Darius Vassell is the latest man to enter the referee's book.
    • 69' Martin Petrov appears to be brought down on the edge of the Villa box but he will have to make do with a corner. It is a poor one and Villa clear.
    • 66' What a snooze this is. Sorry, but there is literally nothing to report, other than Martin O'Neill's rising agitation level over on the Villa touchline.
    • 63' Maloney hits the resultant free-kick, getting the ball to lift over the wall and then dip towards the goal, but it is straight at Hart and presents him with an easy save.
    • 62' Young makes the most of a Ball trip from behind 25 yards out, but there is no doubt it was a foul and that is a yellow card.
    • 59' Well, what a let-down this is. The second half has been as dull as ditchwater so far.
    • 56' Late, clumsy trip by Gelson Fernandes who, to his credit, has no complaint when Lee Mason shows him a yellow card. Barry has also been booked for dissent.
    • 53' Agbonlahor attempts to create something by himself, lifting the ball over his man and then dragging his volley wide.
    • 51' It has been a surprisingly slow start to the second half - neither side able to reach the heights of the opening period.
    • 48' Hart is forced to punch clear as the ball is lumped into the City box. The ball is cleared, albeit slightly unconvincingly.
    • 46' City restart the game and - as in the first half - are immediately on the offenisve. Vassell meets a Petrov cross with a header that loops onto the top of the net. If he had a few more inches...
    • 45' One each at the break. A superb contest, and evenly matched over the course of the half. A thrilling second period awaits.
    • 45' City are stacking men up behind the ball and are playing for half-time. It's a bit like watching England under Sven.
    • 43' It is still the Ashley Young show here. He skips past Ball and cuts in from the right, but his cross-shot passes harmlessly past the far post.
    • 40' Reo-Coker is asdjudged to have fouled Elano and this could be a good chance for City... the free-kick fails to clear the first line of defence.
    • 38' Hamann is completely done for pace by Agbonlahor and brings him down with a late tackle from behind. Pretty hapless stuff, and that's a yellow card.
    • 37' Tremendous entertainment here at Villa Park. Some great flair players on display, although on this occasion Elano's backheel finds a claret and blue shirt.
    • 34' Another corner from the Villa right. Delivered deep by Young and yet again Laursen wins the header. This time it is directed well over.
    • 32' Fantastic save Joe Hart! What a way to redeem yourself! Carew latches onto a Reo-Coker through ball and unleashes a half-volley from the edge of the box, but Hart touches it onto the post!
    • 30' Yet another Aston Villa corner won by the livewire Young. What a player. He will surely be involved when Fabio Capello announces his first England squad.
    • 27' Based on this display, Sven-Goran Eriksson might want to rethink his confirmation of Joe Hart as his number one goalkeeper. The England Under-21 man is having a stinker.
    • 26' CONTROVERSY!! Cleared off the line - or was it? Hart came for and missed another corner and Agbonlahor volleyed weakly towards the empty net. Elano cleared left-footed but the ball looked like it might have gone over the line!
    • 25' That Villa equaliser has completely changed the game. They pour forward and win another corner that Laursen meets but his header is deflected wide.
    • 22' A poor Elano foul results in a Villa free-kick swung in from the right by Barry. Laursen gets above Hart to win the header, but it does not have enough power and is hacked away by Ball. A mistake from the City keeper though.
    • 20' Carew is released again all alone up front, but this time he is outmuscled and the ball is safely shepherded back to Hart.
    • 18' Maloney is brought down and Villa have a free-kick that Young will deliver into the box... woeful effort, straight out for a goal kick.
    • 16' Villa are lucky to be level but that was a fine piece of play by Carew. Barry now drills in a corner but Hart makes a commanding catch.
    • 14' GOOOAAAALLL!!! Villa are level through John Carew!! The giant Norwegian brings down a long ball, turns Richards and shows good strength to hold off two men and bundle past Hart.
    • 13' City cross again from the right and this time it is headed away, but Villa are all at sea. They just aren't putting enough pressure on Martin Petov and he is killing them.
    • 11' GOOOAAALLL!!! City lead, and it is Rolando Bianchi again! A great City break sees Petrov cross pacily from the left into the centre where Bianchi loses Laursen and finishes from close range. Fine goal, but poor defending by Villa.
    • 8' Villa have picked up just a single point from their last three games and have not started strongly. City very much on top.
    • 6' Elano goes close! He curls a free-kick low to the near post from long range and Carson dives low to his right to touch the ball behind.
    • 5' Bianchi momentarily looks like he has been played clean through but his progress is halted by an offside flag.
    • 4' Villa make just the one change, with last week's goalscorer Shaun Maloney coming in for Craig Gardner.
    • 3' Joe Hart is in goal for City, having been publicly backed by Sven-Goran Eriksson ahead of Andreas Isaksson. Nedum Onuoha comes in for Vedran Corluka at right-back and Gelson Fernandes replaces the injured Michael Johnson in midfield.
    • 2' The visitors are immediately on the offensive, with the ball worked down the right and headed down to Elano, who drags a left-foot shot embarrassingly wide.
    • 1' Villa kick off, playing from right to left as we see it. City are in white shirts with sky blue shorts.
    • - Welcome to LIVE coverage of Aston Villa v Manchester City - two sides with an eye on European qualification. It should be a good one.

  • Team Stats

    Aston Villa Stats Manchester City
    52% Possession 47%
    12 Shots 7
    7 Shots on target 1
    0 Saves 3
    7 Corners 4
    15 Fouls 15
    3 Offsides 3
    2 Yellow cards 4
    0 Red cards 0
    21 Tackles 33
    256 Accurate passes 247
    65 Bad passes 36

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Aston Villa
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      22 Scott Carson 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 2 0
      16 Zatyiah Knight 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 0 2
      3 Wilfred Bouma 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 25 15 2
      4 Olof Mellberg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 37 1 2
      5 Martin Laursen 0 3 1 0 2 0 0 21 4 1
      20 Nigel Reo-Coker 0 0 0 7 1 0 0 25 5 6
      6 Gareth Barry 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 44 17 4
      11 Gabriel Agbonlahor 0 4 3 2 3 0 0 12 2 0
      10 John Carew 1 3 2 2 0 2 0 28 5 1
      28 Shaun Maloney 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 23 9 3
      7 Ashley Young 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 16 5 0
      15 Curtis Davies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      13 Stuart Taylor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      9 Marlon Harewood 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      26 Craig Gardner 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      19 Stilian Petrov 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 0 0
    • Manchester City
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      25 Joe Hart 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0
      2 Micah Richards 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 21 0 1
      3 Michael Ball 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 23 7 3
      4 Nedum Onuoha 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 12 0 4
      22 Richard Dunne 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 23 2 8
      11 Blumer Elano 0 3 0 1 4 0 0 21 5 4
      21 Dietmar Hamann 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 33 4 3
      28 Gelson Fernandes 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 37 4 5
      15 Martin Petrov 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 27 5 2
      10 Rolando Bianchi 1 1 1 0 2 2 0 13 2 1
      12 Darius Vassell 0 1 0 5 1 1 0 14 3 2
      16 Vedran Corluka 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 12 3 0
      8 Marcio Geovanni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      1 Andreas Isaksson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      37 Kelvin Etuhu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
      24 Javier Garrido 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0

  • Summary

    • 86' Long ball over the top for Agbonlahor who is through... but Hart rushes out and blocks it. Did he handle outside the area? It seems he did not! City hanging on here!
    • 83' Another big opportunity for Villa as Reo-Coker wins possession and has Agbonlahor alongside him... but he delays an age and is tackled by Ball. Rubbish from Reo-Coker.
    • 81' A real chance for Martin Petrov, who arrives six yards out at the right-hand post but volleys wide!
    • 78' Oh, Carew! Everything was right about that but the finish! The big man brought the ball inside from the left, shifted it onto his right foot and then shanked a horrible effort straight at the corner flag.
    • 53' Agbonlahor attempts to create something by himself, lifting the ball over his man and then dragging his volley wide.
    • 32' Fantastic save Joe Hart! What a way to redeem yourself! Carew latches onto a Reo-Coker through ball and unleashes a half-volley from the edge of the box, but Hart touches it onto the post!
    • 26' CONTROVERSY!! Cleared off the line - or was it? Hart came for and missed another corner and Agbonlahor volleyed weakly towards the empty net. Elano cleared left-footed but the ball looked like it might have gone over the line!
    • 25' That Villa equaliser has completely changed the game. They pour forward and win another corner that Laursen meets but his header is deflected wide.
    • 22' A poor Elano foul results in a Villa free-kick swung in from the right by Barry. Laursen gets above Hart to win the header, but it does not have enough power and is hacked away by Ball. A mistake from the City keeper though.
    • 14' GOOOAAAALLL!!! Villa are level through John Carew!! The giant Norwegian brings down a long ball, turns Richards and shows good strength to hold off two men and bundle past Hart.
    • 11' GOOOAAALLL!!! City lead, and it is Rolando Bianchi again! A great City break sees Petrov cross pacily from the left into the centre where Bianchi loses Laursen and finishes from close range. Fine goal, but poor defending by Villa.
    • 6' Elano goes close! He curls a free-kick low to the near post from long range and Carson dives low to his right to touch the ball behind.
    • - Welcome to LIVE coverage of Aston Villa v Manchester City - two sides with an eye on European qualification. It should be a good one.

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Lee Mason

  • Aston Villa

    Manager: Martin O'Neill

    Captain: Gareth Barry

    On the Field

    • Carson
    • Mellberg
    • Knight
    • Laursen
    • Bouma
    • Reo-Coker
    • Maloney Substitution Out (73′)
    • Barry Yellow Card
    • Agbonlahor
    • Young
    • Carew Goal

    Subs

    • Taylor
    • Petrov Substitution In (73′)
    • Harewood
    • Davies
    • Gardner

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None

  • Manchester City

    Manager: Sven-Göran Eriksson

    Captain: Richard Dunne

    On the Field

    • Hart
    • Onuoha
    • Richards
    • Dunne
    • Ball
    • Hamann Yellow Card Substitution Out (70′)
    • Gelson Yellow Card
    • Elano Substitution Out (76′)
    • Petrov
    • Vassell Yellow Card
    • Bianchi Goal Substitution Out (85′)

    Subs

    • Isaksson
    • Geovanni
    • Garrido Substitution In (76′)
    • Corluka Substitution In (70′)
    • Etuhu Substitution In (85′)

    Injured

    • Bojinov
    • Sturridge

    Suspended

    • Ireland