Luton Town vs Aston Villa pre-match thread

[rob_bridge]

Score a couple of early ones from Bailes and Ollie

Enjoy the show.

That match the other day cannot have done them any favours at all

[Dogtanian]

Torres and Konsa travelling down, but will be assessed Saturday morning.

[Somniloquism]

Defensive duo Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres will be included in Aston Villa’s squad for the trip to Luton Town but will be assessed on Saturday morning to determine their involvement.

Konsa has returned to training having missed the last four matches due to an injury sustained in the 5-0 victory at Sheffield United.

Torres was forced off at half-time in last weekend’s 4-2 triumph over Nottingham Forest.

Jhon Durán is progressing well but will not be available at Kenilworth Road, joining Diego Carlos on the sidelines along with long-term absentees Tyrone Mings, Emi Buendía and Boubacar Kamara.

Asked about the availability of Konsa and Torres at Friday’s pre-match media conference, head coach Unai Emery said: “I will include them in the squad for tomorrow, but I don’t know if they are going to be available 100 per cent to play from the beginning.

“I will decide tomorrow morning, speaking with them and how they feel for a very important match.

“Of course, it’s a very tough match, a lot of duels, a very demanding match.”

[Monty]

That's good news, especially ahead of next week.

[Sexual Ealing]

I'm pretty sure he's taking the piss now...

@AVFCOfficial
Emery: "I am very demanding with myself, against every team.

"We want to be consistent and to achieve our objectives, we have to respect every opponent."

[UK Redsox]

Torres and Konsa travelling down, but will be assessed Saturday morning.

I was going to make a snarky comment about the team travelling down today.
However, it turns out that Luton is further from Brum than I thought.

In fact, every town in that part of the country is further away than it feels they should be

[itbrvilla]

Looks like the bands getting back together. Hopefully that's our bad luck used up....

[VillaTim]

hope they're staying at a good hotel i can only think of 1 in Luton

[Somniloquism]

Torres and Konsa travelling down, but will be assessed Saturday morning.

I was going to make a snarky comment about the team travelling down today.
However, it turns out that Luton is further from Brum than I thought.

In fact, every town in that part of the country is further away than it feels they should be

TBH, Luton is about 2 hours away with fair traffic, but I think for several years* we stop in a hotel the night before any match, home or away. I think Emery was talking about having overnight rooms at BH going forward for the home ones and very local away stadia.

*We used to under O'Neill when they were stopping at the Marriot in five ways but might have stopped it at some point to save money. during the leaner times.

[Somniloquism]

hope they're staying at a good hotel i can only think of 1 in Luton

Doubt it will be in Luton directly, but might be in one of the Spa and Golf ones in the County. They might even do a London hotel. 

[Brazilian Villain]

hope they're staying at a good hotel i can only think of 1 in Luton

Probably staying at the Four Seasons Luton.

[VillaTim]

hope they're staying at a good hotel i can only think of 1 in Luton

Doubt it will be in Luton directly, but might be in one of the Spa and Golf ones in the County. They might even do a London hotel.

Luton Hoo possibly or might be the Grove not far away

[Monty]

I'm pretty sure he's taking the piss now...

@AVFCOfficial
Emery: "I am very demanding with myself, against every team.

"We want to be consistent and to achieve our objectives, we have to respect every opponent."

I do love him.

[AV84]

BBC's predictions thing made me laugh today. Chris Sutton up against two of Twin Atlantic this week. Sam McTrusty's prediction for our game....

Sam's prediction: I should probably back Villa and John McGinn because he is a big player for Scotland and he just lent his flat in Edinburgh to my wee sister and her boyfriend. That's as close as you'll get to me name-dropping a footballer by the way. Villa will probably hammer Luton but, because I am up against Chris, I am going to take a risk here and go with a home win. 1-0

I hope he evicts your sister, pal.

[PaulWinch again]

If our attack clicks we should score plenty - that’s what we need a real focus on. Pau and Konsa touch and go means the likely starting defence won’t be the best.