Source: Daily_Mail
Stoke v Aston Villa live
Stoke will be looking for their first points of the season as they host Aston Villa at the Britannia Stadium. While the visitors will still be under caretaker charge from Kevin MacDonald despite the recent appointment of Gerard Houllier, as they look to continue their positive start. Email me your thoughts on the game throughout the evening at dan.ripley@dailymail.co.uk.[LNB] Stoke 0-1 Aston Villa (8pm)Stoke: Sorensen, Huth, Collins, Shawcross, Faye, Wilson, Whitehead, Delap, Etherington, Jones, Walters. Subs: Begovic, Higginbotham, Wilkinson, Whelan, Pennant, Gudjohnsen, Fuller.[LNB]Aston Villa: Friedel, Luke Young, Warnock, Dunne, Collins, Downing, Ashley Young, Albrighton, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Agbonlahor. Subs: Guzan, Beye, Cuellar, Clark, Ireland, Hogg, Heskey.[LNB]Goals: Downing 35[LNB]Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire) [LNB]45min: Villa are finishing very strongly here, Albrighton sends in a cross that Downing in a similar position to where he scored gets a volley on goal. Sorensen though so surprised it's going on target literally flaps at it just to scramble it off the line, as Stoke escape with conceding a corner.[LNB]41min: Smart save from Sorensen. a loose ball in the box is picked up by James Collins six yards out and at an angle fires a powerful shot at the Dane, who parries away to safety.[LNB]40min: How has he missed that? Agbonlahor switches flanks and sends another ball in the box where Ashley Young six yards out throws his head at it and manages to head wide.[LNB]Either side of Sorenesen and it's in, how costly could that be?[LNB]37min: I have seen those given! A ball in the Villa box is contested by Jones and James Collins, but the latter seems to handle the ball as it bounces around, he has got away with that.[LNB]35min: GOAL! Stoke 0-1 Aston Villa[LNB]And there is one of those crosses. Agbonlahor sends a ball to the unmarked Stewart Downing who shows incredible technique to head across Sorensen.[LNB]Huth is very suspect in his defending there, failing to cut out the cross or mark downing. Double fail.[LNB]33min: None shall pass. Villa are almost at a standstill every time they approach the Stoke penalty area, seemingly overawed by the defence in front of them. [LNB]The odd cross now and then, Villa have been reduced to shots from distance.[LNB]30min: Half an hour gone and this game seems to be coming to life a bit now, both sides are showing attacking intent, and I will be surprised if this remains goal less[LNB]28min: No doubt encouraged by Jones' effort, Downing again strikes from a similar distance but unfortunately for the Villa midfielder his effort is always sailing wide.[LNB]26min: What a goal that would have been! Jones turns and shoots on the volley from what must be 30 yards out, forcing a visibly stunned Friedel to parry away in panic.[LNB]24min: Stoke win their own corner and again Jones is involved as he heads it over under pressure from the Villa defence.[LNB]23min: Corner for Villa and the Stoke fans are deafening in their boos to the away side, as Sorensen collects the corner.[LNB]20min: Not a classic this one, Stoke still just edging the play, but much of that play is head tennis.[LNB]17min: Better from the visitors, Nigel Reo-Coker lays the ball off to Marc Albrighton on the edge of the box but his shot is wild as it is high and wide.[LNB]15min: First attempt at goal from Villa, as Stewart Downing hits a speculative effort 25 yards out which Sorensen takes comfortably.[LNB]14min: Warnock, who that opening minute block aside has looked shaky, is booked for a pretty careless lunge on Jones 35 yards out.[LNB]10min: It's all Stoke. Jones is through on goal but his shot from inside the box is blocked at his feet by the advancing Brad Friedel, who at 39 has been there many times before.[LNB]9min: Delap's ego goes up two notches after his ballwork trickery leaves Warnock on his backside, his cross in the box is then headed away by Luke Young with Jones ready to nod home.[LNB]8min: That caught me out.[LNB]Stoke win a free-kick 40 yards out but instead of the expected punt in to the box they play it short, and a nice passing move ends when Robert Huth's shot on the edge of the box trickles in to Brad Friedel's arms.[LNB]Huth not getting any power in his shot was just as surprising.[LNB] Eye on the ball: Agbonlahor and Whitehead battle early on[LNB]7min: Lots of high balls and no purpose at the moment...and a standard Delap throw in.[LNB]3min: Jones again providing the spark, Villa back off and he proceeds to play through Rory Delap. Offside is rightly called but Jones is proving to be a handful already.[LNB]1min: Villa in problems already, Kenwyne Jones shrugs off a challenge to play through Matthew Etherington down the left, but the wingers cross is cut out by Stephen Warnock as Villa scramble clear.[LNB]20.00: Kemp does indeed take charge of Stoke as Villa kick-off.[LNB]19.55: A clear evening at the Britannia as the players make their way out, conditions are looking good anyway.[LNB]19.53: Not one to take sides, this Villa side looks vulnerable. Stoke can be quite committed in their style of play and I wonder if the Villa players will stand up to it.[LNB]19.51: Speaking of handy players to bring on, Stephen Ireland has just recovered from a recent injury and features on the bench.[LNB]If MacDonald can help it though he will be reluctant to have to use him.[LNB]19.46: No starts for new boys Jermaine Pennant and Eidur Gudjohnsen, who will be lacking match fitness.[LNB]But if your searching for a goal, they are two handy players you can call upon late in the game, and I will be surprised if they do not feature tonight.[LNB]19.44: For Stoke, a win only takes them up to 18th, but crucially will chalk up their first win and first points.[LNB]19.41: Three points will mean very different things to these sides tonight.[LNB]A Villa win will take them up to third and further increase the pressure for Houllier to hit the ground running when he (eventually) takes over.[LNB]19.34: On the flip side however, Stoke have not won a Premier League match during the month of September & lost all four played at the Britannia Stadium.[LNB]Thanks to Opta for those two stats, which obviously means Aston Villa will edge this by the odd goal in nine.[LNB]19.33: Bad news for Villa fans though is their wretched Premier League away form when it comes to defending.[LNB]They have conceded more goals in their last six Premier League away games (17) than in the previous 16 put together (16).[LNB]19.32: Kevin MacDonald has also confirmed that he has picked the team for tonight's fixture, and will do so again this coming weekend to.[LNB]19.30: Tony Pulis and Gerard Houllier. Both are managers of the clubs in action but both will not be involved tonight, albeit for different reasons.[LNB]Much has been spoke about when Houllier will eventually take over after he eventually arranges his departure from the French Football Federation.[LNB]But Pulis will not be available due to personal reasons. No news on who will take over for the evening but assistant boss Dave Kemp looks most likely.[LNB][LNB] Hanging around: Kevin MacDonald will continue to take charge of Villa[LNB] Ex-Liverpool star McAllister is the man for new Aston Villa boss Houllier Upbeat Downing tips new manager Houllier to shine at Aston Villa Bad boy Pennant set for Stoke debut after nightmare year in SpainIAN RIDLEY: Safe hands Houllier joins the old guard[LNB]
