Game #5037
Aston Villa
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Won
5th (+1)
Last 5: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩
Premier League
Attendance: 35,979
Portsmouth
Villa Park
Villa make it five successive Premier League wins to climb to 5th in the table after six games but once again the game takes place against a backdrop of questionable behaviour from the manager as Martin O'Neill leads the team following a training ground fight with midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker. The combustible boss seemed to be doing everything possible to render his position untenable but the wins were flowing again and a third successive top six finish was possible although the European dream was over for another year.
Aston Villa
2-0
Portsmouth
Assist(s) | Stiliyan Petrov | 34’ | James Milner | 43’ |
KEY MAN
Gabby Agbonlahor celebrates scoring his third in as many games as he wins it for Villa once again, Saturday, 19 September 2009.
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
Saturday, 19 September 2009
⚽ | 34’ Goal, 1-0, James Milner (pen)
⚽ | 43’ Goal, 2-0, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Assist by James Milner
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 2-0 Portsmouth
🟨 | 57’ Booking, Carlos Cuéllar
🟨 | 70’ Booking, Gabby Agbonlahor
🔁 | 65’ Sub off, John Carew, Sub on, Emile Heskey
🔁 | 80’ Sub off, Emile Heskey, Sub on, John Carew
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 2-0 Portsmouth
ON THIS DAY
Gabby Agbonlahor scored his third goal in as many games to help Villa win a fifth consecutive match and climb to 5th in the table.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96
Portsmouth
European Cup / Champions League: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 2007-08
FIXTURE HISTORY
Portsmouth
Previous 5 vs. Portsmouth: 🟨 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟩
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 2009-10 |
Matchday | #7 |
League Game | #5 |
Manager Game | #145 |
Saturday, 19 September 2009
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: Martin O’Neill | 🇬🇧 | County Londonderry, 2006-2010
Referee: Stuart Attwell | 🏴 | Nuneaton, 2007-
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟩 2-0
FT Score: 🟩 2-0
FT Result: 🟩 Won
Last 5: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩
MANAGERIAL RECORD
Martin O'Neill | 🇬🇧 |
GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME
🕒 145 | 🟩 | 59 🟨 | 45 🟥 41 | 1.53
Career Form:
Top 8
Martin O'Neill | 🇬🇧 |
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Stuart Attwell | 🏴 | Nuneaton, 2007-
Previous 5:
Last Match: None
Cards: 🟨 🟨
Assistants: Simon Beck, Jake Collin
Stuart Attwell
CARDS
Villa
🟨 🟨
Portsmouth
None
TEAM NEWS
John Carew replaces Nigel Reo-Coker after the latter is excluded from first team selection after a training ground 'fight' with manager Martin O'Neill.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 28.03 |
Oldest Player |
GK Brad Friedel | 🇺🇸 | 38.37 |
Youngest Player |
F Gabriel Agbonlahor | 🏴 | 22.95 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
Martin O'Neill | 🇬🇧 |
Paul Hart | 🏴 |
Aston Villa
GK Brad Friedel | 🇺🇸 |
LB Stephen Warnock | 🏴 |
CB James Collins | 🏴 |
CB Richard Dunne | 🇮🇪 |
CB Carlos Cuéllar | 🇪🇸 | 🟨 |
M Stiliyan Petrov | 🇧🇬 |
M Steve Sidwell | 🏴 |
W James Milner | 🏴 | ⚽ | 🔥 |
W Ashley Young | 🏴 |
F Gabriel Agbonlahor | 🏴 | ⚽ | 🟨 |
CF John Carew | 🇳🇴 | 🔁 |
Portsmouth
GK David James (ex) | 🏴 |
LB Nadir Belhadj | 🇩🇿 |
CB Younès Kaboul | 🇫🇷 |
CB Aaron Mokoena | 🇿🇦 |
CB Tel Ben Haim | 🇮🇱 |
RB Anthony Vanden Borre | 🇧🇪 |
M Jamie O’Hara | 🏴 |
M Michael Brown | 🏴 |
M Kevin-Prince Boateng | 🇬🇭 |
CF Frédéric Piquionne | 🇲🇶 | 🔁 |
CF Tommy Smith | 🏴 | 🔁 |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 CF Emile Heskey | 🏴 | 🔁 | for CF John Carew | 🏴 | 65’ |
🔁 M Fabian Delph | 🏴 | for CF Emile Heskey | 🏴 | 80’ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | CF Frédéric Piquionne | 🇲🇶 | (CF Danny Webber | 🏴 |)
🔁 | CF Tommy Smith | 🏴 | (CF Nwankwo Kanu | 🇳🇬 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Brad Guzan | 🇺🇸 |
RB Habib Bèye | 🇸🇳 |
LB Nicky Shorey | 🏴 |
M Craig Gardner | 🏴 |
F Nathan Delfouneso | 🏴 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Asmir Begović | 🇧🇦 |
CB Mike Williamson | 🏴 |
M Hayden Mullins | 🏴 |
M Hassan Yebda | 🇩🇿 |
W John Utaka | 🇳🇬 |
SQUAD STATS
Not Recorded
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 4/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 7/18
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Injury | 1 |
CB Curtis Davies | 🏴 |
Bomb Squad | 1 |
M Nigel Reo-Coker | 🏴 |
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Positions:
GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half
M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward
Match Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
MATCH STATS
Possession F | 54%
Possession A | 46%
Shots F | 7
Shots A | 17
Shots on Target F | 5
Shots on Target A | 12
Corners F | 7
Corners A | 5
Fouls F | 17
Fouls A | 13
TABLE
PROGRAMME
MATCHDAY QUOTES
"There’s a great spirit in the dressing room." Martin O'Neill.
*BBC Sport*
Saturday, 19 September 2009
*Aston Villa maintained their impressive form to consign Portsmouth to a sixth successive Premier League defeat.*
James Milner opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Nadir Belhadj upended Villa skipper Stilian Petrov.
Gabriel Agbonlahor then underlined Villa’s superiority, converting a Milner flick-on with aplomb after a lapse of concentration by Tal Ben Haim.
The defeat makes Pompey the first top-flight side to lose their opening six games in over a quarter of a century.
Leicester City were the last team to start a top-flight campaign in similarly desultory fashion.
And while Portsmouth can perhaps take heart from the fact that the Foxes eventually recovered to finish the 1983/84 season in 15th place, they will need to tighten up significantly at the back if history is to repeat itself.
After a fifth successive win in all competitions, Villa have no such problems.
Nigel Reo-Coker’s training-ground contretemps with manager Martin O’Neill overshadowed the prelude to the game, but a vibrant performance will have done much to lighten the mood in the claret-and-sky-blue camp.
O’Neill dealt with the absence of Reo-Coker, who was sent home from training on Thursday but will be considered for return to first-team contention next week, by restoring John Carew alongside Agbonlahor in attack.
The result was an infusion of attacking impetus that was evident from the opening seconds, when Agbonlahor’s purposeful run towards the Pompey goal required a lunging intervention from Belhadj.
Villa’s enterprise almost reaped an early reward when a left-wing cross from Ashley Young took a deflection off the forehead of Pompey midfielder Aaron Mokoena, forcing a sprightly save from England veteran David James.
If that was a warning shot across the Pompey bows, further signs of a torrid afternoon ahead for the visitors were not long in coming.
A well-timed tackle by Michael Brown halted Steve Sidwell’s surging run into the box before Belhadj blocked a stinging effort from Milner.
In between came Portsmouth’s best chance of the opening period, Frederic Piquionne shaking off the attention of two defenders only to direct his angled header wide of Brad Friedel’s far post.
But as the relentless Villa onslaught continued, Portsmouth were clearly beginning to feel the squeeze.
O’Neill’s side finally gained the advantage that their superiority demanded when Belhadj upended Petrov to concede a penalty.
The Algeria international appeared to argue that the Villa captain was heading away from goal, but referee Stuart Attwell was having none of it and Milner ended the debate with a clinical spot kick.
With the interval approaching O’Hara forced an unconvincing save from Brad Friedel, but if that was a faint ray of hope for Portsmouth, it was quickly snuffed out by Agbonlahor.
Milner flicked on a Friedel goal kick from inside the centre circle, and the Villa forward, still brimming with confidence after scoring the winner in the second city derby last weekend, turned Ben Haim before firing a crisp finish beyond James.
Staring down the barrel of another spirit-sapping defeat, Portsmouth improved markedly after the break, with Belhadj twice stinging the palms of Friedel from distance.
But Pompey’s efforts came to nought, and a sixth consecutive loss represents a new low for a club that has twice narrowly avoided the drop since winning promotion from the Championship six years ago.
*Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill:*
“I’m delighted, because it was a difficult afternoon for us, particularly in the second half.
“Expectations were high, but we got the penalty and then Gabriel Agbonlahor scored an absolutely magnificent goal to give everyone a lift.
“Overall I’m just really pleased with the team, there’s a great spirit in the dressing room and I’m delighted to have got off to a reasonable start.”
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. With thanks to Trinity Mirror. Digitised by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited. All rights reserved. Source: British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)