A pickup as of late?
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00:00Charlie, looking at Aston Villa and their form as of late now, we'll touch on the draw
00:05against Liverpool. Champions, they are going through it a little bit at the moment in terms
00:09of their form and maybe the pressure could slightly be just getting to them despite that
00:14sort of big gap they have at the top of the table. Obviously, the Merseyside derby draw
00:18they had as well. Aston Villa were fantastic against Liverpool at Villa Park and this is
00:24sort of something that really helps your confidence going against the champions toe-to-toe with
00:29them, hosting them at home and coming away with a point where it could have really gone
00:33either way. What was your sort of take from that game and how much sort of positivity
00:38can United and Merseyside and the fans actually take from now until the end of the season?
00:44I think it was definitely a big step in the right direction, that Liverpool game. You
00:47go into it, you think Arnaslott's team, they're too strong, they're going to go and win this
00:51one. It'll be a very difficult task to get just the point and it was difficult, don't
00:54get me wrong, but Villa went a lot more toe-to-toe than you would expect, especially with all
00:59the injury problems at the moment. They might have the likes of Marco Asensio and Marcus
01:03Rashford adding to their already amazing attacking options, but at the back, they're really threadbare,
01:08you know. Paul Torres being out, Matty Cash recently, Ezra Condor as well, Boubacar Kamara
01:13recently leaving the team through a back injury as well. A lot of Tyrone Mings is a bad player,
01:18but he's not quite the level of Paul Torres. Then Axel Desarze only just settling in, he's
01:23not quite got the structure just right yet. Andres Garcia, inexperienced at right back.
01:28So many frailties there. And in defensive midfield, Tielemans and McGinn are fantastic
01:32players, but they've had to play pretty much every minute recently and the fatigue will
01:35set in at some point. But that didn't really show against Liverpool and there was a mistake
01:39from Garcia for the first goal that Salah scored, giving the ball away to Jota needlessly.
01:44But if it wasn't for that, I think Villa defended pretty well in that game. One mistake maybe
01:49from Mings when Nunez ran through on goal, but went toe-to-toe, as I say, and it was
01:53very promising. But it is five games in a row now in the Premier League without a win.
01:58That is worrying, but it is a step in the right direction, as I say, and they can take
02:01confidence from that before they play Chelsea.
02:03Yeah, there's sort of slight inconsistencies throughout the season. But if you are a Villa
02:09fan and you look at the prospects of where this season could actually turn into, you
02:13know, the tie, favourable tie in the FA Cup, favourable tie in the Champions League, I
02:18mean, this could be probably the most memorable season under Unai Emery if things do go a
02:24bit more to plan than they'd hoped.
02:27Possibly, and I think with the injuries at the moment, those players should come back
02:32by the time the favourable ties are out the way. So, of course, Bruges isn't easy. Cardiff,
02:37anything can happen in the FA Cup, we know that. Plymouth beat Liverpool, for goodness
02:40sake, but a favourable tie there. Once you get through those, you're in kind of late
02:45March, April time, and then you can start thinking about having your key players back.
02:48So, Villa should be in renewed strength, and I'm very confident, and the fans will be
02:52confident as well, and Emery, that they can progress in these compositions. Such an
02:56exciting end to the season. Let's hope it all goes to plan for them.