1988 - a year where Sonny Bono (as in Sonny and Cher) was elected mayor of Palm Springs, California, the Queen stripped Lester Piggott of his Order of the British Empire following his jailing for tax irregularities, Wimbledon caused a massive upset beating Liverpool to the FA Cup trophy and Stoke City last faced Aston Villa; a game they won 1-0. Alas twenty years on and such a repeat looks as unlikely as Newcastle getting something at Old Trafford!

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Even with Martin O’Neill’s words of warning to Everton and David Moyes, there is no denying Villa had a very big slip up right at the wrong time last weekend. Not only did they lose touch with the Toffees, they also lost their goal difference advantage. On the plus side, they now know exactly what they have to do here - produce nothing short of a win.

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Villa’s draw with Everton last weekend means the race for fifth place is still well and truly on with Martin O’Neill’s in an excellent position. They may be trailing Everton; they may have missed the opportunity to grab that only European place by the neck but their two remaining fixtures are, on paper, considerably easier than Everton’s and they’d really fancy their chances in this encounter with Wigan.

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There may only be a few games left to the Premiership season but there are still some highly crucial matches yet to be played. This one definitely falls into the ’six pointer’ category. Once in the tightest of tussles for fourth place, Everton now find themselves on the verge of losing fifth.

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Aston Villa’s crushing 5-1 demolition of their Second City rivals Birmingham last weekend has left them within three points of 5th position. This result caps a memorable scoring spree that has seen Villa rack up an incredible 15 goals in just three games. Martin O’Neill’s Villans side are now the 2nd highest scorers in the Premier League behind current leaders and reigning Champions United. This has got me thinking, surely it’s about time Martin O’Neill was given an enormous amount of credit for both revitalising a sleeping giant and subsequently transforming them into an exciting, attacking unit that can only be described as the ‘Villa Thrillers’?

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The Second City Derby takes place at Villa Park this weekend in what is always a ferocious, incident packed affair. The clubs are enduring differing seasons with Aston Villa flying high in 7th place whilst Birmingham hover 2 points above the relegation zone. On paper this looks an obvious Premier 10 home win, however, the unpredictability of derby matches makes this a far closer call. There’s an interesting sub-plot to this encounter with two old adversaries set to go at it again.

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The relegated Rams have been a godsend to Premier 10 players this season as they’ve been beaten almost every week and this looks set to be yet another defeat. The Villans returned to form in emphatic style last weekend with a 4-0 thrashing of Bolton after a barren 5-match winless run (3 defeats). I hate to say it Rams fans but once again, Derby face another disappointing weekend defeat.

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Both these sides suffered devastating defeats last weekend so confidence will be low in both camps. Villa were humbled 4-0 at Old Trafford whilst Bolton threw away a 2-0 lead at home to 10-man Arsenal and lost the match in stoppage time. The Trotters are now 4 points adrift of Premier League safety and they need to pick up at least a point from this Premier 10 match.

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Up until a few weeks ago this match looked like a potential banana skin for the Red Devils as the Villans had picked up impressive draws this season at Stamford Bridge, the Emirates and Anfield. However, a recent run of poor results coupled with an appalling record against United marks this match down as a Premier 10 home win.

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The Villans Euro quest is all but over after a dismal week of results including a home draw with Boro and a defeat at Portsmouth. However, this is a fixture that could see Villa’s season back on track as Premier 10 players will be aware that the Black Cats away form is nothing short of abysmal.

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