Aston Villa edged that little step closer to securing their Premier League status for another season with their 14th Premier League draw of the season a record they hold above the entire Premier League table to-date
Having played 32 matches so far Aston Villa’s Win/Lose/ Ratio’s read
Win 21.88%
Lose 34.38%
Draw 43.75%
Aston Villa took the lead on 32 minutes thanks to, the ever-improving Austrian, Andreas Weimann with a great individual strike at goal. Stoke City equalised mid-way through the second half with a Robert Huth header.
Aston Villa have been in the Premier League from the beginning back in 1992. Only Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham hold this 20 season record.
Aston Villa started the game on a positive note and before Weimann scored Aston Villa’s goal he had a goal disallowed due to being in an offside position. It was a nice lofted ball from Stephen Ireland between the centre-back and Stoke City’s keeper Asmir Begovic.
Andreas Weimann has been on fire for the reserves in recent times but it seems that he is relishing his opportunity to make sure Alex McLeish does not forget him in the future. Weimann wanted to build from his last-minute winner against Fulham a few weeks ago at Villa Park.
Weimann has been a product of the Villa academy and he linked-up play well with team-mate Eric Lichaj to set up a nice little triangle between Lichaj, Weimann and Ireland. Lichaj received the ball and passed to Weimann who then laid the ball off to Ireland and continued his run and used his upper-body strength to free himself from Stoke’s defender and calmly dispatched a right foot curler passed Begovic.
Aston Villa took their 1-0 goal advantage into the half-time interval and for majority of the second half until the Robert Huth powered home for the second time in 48 hrs. Robert Huth was beneficiary of Jermaine Pennant’s free kick which was given very cheaply by referee Mike Dean. Dean believed that Gary Gardner had unfairly challenged Jermaine Pennant and after watching replays it clear to see that Pennant over-exaggerated the challenge.
Stoke City’s equaliser wasn’t as fairly deserved as pictures clearly show that Robert Huth and fellow Stoke players bullied James Collins and impeded the Aston Villa defender which is not that easy to do.
Aston Villa were once again not helped as they were forced into making substitutions Gary Gardner was forced to come on for Stephen Warnock who was unable to continue on the hour mark. In the later stages of the match when Aston Villa’s Chris Herd was grounded by climbing for an aerial challenge with Stoke City’s Robert Huth the two clashed heads and Herd landed on his head. Herd became much disoriented and was later taken to hospital as a precautionary measure for a check up. It would seem that there is nothing seriously wrong with Chris Herd as he tweeted this
“Morning ,Feeling much better this morning!!! #PrayForStan thinking of you today mate!!!”
The late stoppage in the 88th minute meant that there was an additional 5 minutes of added time with Aston Villa looking to hit Stoke City on the break to snatch the winner in the dying moments.
Next Page: Stats report from the match for Villa Vs Stoke… (click button bottom right or top right)
