What: English Premier League
Who: Aston Villa vs Queens Park Rangers
When: Saturday 16th March, 2013, at 15:00 UK Time
Where: Villa Park, Birmingham, England

Paul Lambert’s Men Struggle to Move Clear of Danger Zone

With the battle to avoid relegation heating up, there is no doubt that this is a pivotal fixture between two sides who have been showing encouraging form of late. It is also a clash between two teams who have both released accounts in the last weeks which show that if either or both are relegated, then the financial consequences could be devastating. With a new television rights deal in the Premier League next season increasing prize funds further still, this is the epitome of the relegation six-pointer.

Aston Villa come into the game having won two of their last four matches, but the two defeats, to Arsenal and Manchester City, give them plenty of reason for optimism. This Aston Villa side is certainly more enterprising, hard-working and creative than the team which avoided the drop last year under Alex McLeish, but they also have less experience. It is their youth and lack of experience which has really cost them this season, with silly costly errors letting them down and big defeats taking longer to recover from.

It is therefore crucial that they pick up a good result here as it is easy to imagine that Aston Villa would react worse to defeat than the Hoops. They are three points clear of the relegation spots at present, but with games against Liverpool at home and Stoke away coming up, and Manchester United further down the line to come, it is imperative Aston Villa get the points necessary to ensure that come the final weeks of the season, they are well placed to push themselves over the line to safety.

Harry Redknapp Building Momentum with Hoops

Two wins in a row for Queens Park Rangers have given the west Londoners real hope that they can pull off an unlikely Houdini act and stay in the Premier League again. Victory over Sunderland last weekend was a particularly important match for Harry Redknapp’s side.

The result itself, a 3-1 win, gave them just three points, but unlike at Southampton, QPR had outplayed their opponents and showed real quality, as well as spirit. And in Loic Remy, they have someone who is finally scoring goals. Remy’s injury record makes him a constant worry for any team looking to rely upon him, but the Hoops must take advantage of the former Marseille man’s current purple patch whilst he is off the treatment table.

Last year QPR’s survival was only guaranteed on the final day of the season and it looks likely to go to that point again if they are to stay up – but their final three games see them play Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool. By contrast, they are currently in the middle of a favourable run of games which sees them face Fulham, Wigan, out-of-form Everton, Stoke and Reading. Redknapp is good at building momentum and this is the perfect time for his side to do that. But it is imperative that the Hoops are above the bottom three at the end of April to realistically have a good chance of survival. That makes this game particularly crucial.
 

Recent form

Aston Villa:
Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa (23/02; Premier League)
Aston Villa 0-1 Manchester City (04/03; Premier League)
Reading 1-2 Aston Villa (09/03; Premier League)

QPR:
QPR 0-2 Manchester United (23/02; Premier League)
Southampton 1-2 QPR (02/03; Premier League)
QPR 3-1 Sunderland (09/03; Premier League)

   
Key absences

Aston Villa: Karim El Ahmadi (doubt); Richard Dunne; Darren Bent; Fabian Delph (suspended); Marc Albrighton; Chris Herd

QPR: Armand Traore (doubt); Tal Ben Haim (doubt); Andy Johnson

Players to watch

Aston Villa – Christian Benteke: There is no doubt about it, if Villa stay up, it will have more to do with the talents of Benteke than anyone else in their starting eleven. Paul Lambert deserves huge credit for having the foresight and courage to select him ahead of big money signing Darren Bent this season. While Bent is a reliable goalscorer and finisher, he offers little else, and is not the ideal link man in Lambert’s preferred 4-2-3-1. By contrast Benteke’s power, strength and intelligent movement make him the ideal modern centre-forward to spearhead the Villa attack. With seven goals in his last nine games, the Belgian is firing on all cylinders.

Queens Park Rangers – Loic Remy: If Benteke is critical to Villa’s hopes of staying up, the same is true and possibly even more so of Remy. If ever there was a game which came down to a battle between two forwards, this is it. Remy is different from Benteke, he is more of a runner with clever movement and pace, who can bend his runs intelligently to deceive and evade defenders and find space. Against an Aston Villa defence which has shown its naivety time and time again this season, the French international has the class to expose their leaky backline.

Match Prediction

It is 14 games since Aston Villa kept a clean sheet and even that was against Stoke City at home, hardly the league’s most prolific side. When it comes down to the fine margins of a relegation dogfight, it is imperative to cut out the defensive errors. Whilst Villa struggle to do that, QPR have shown, with performances against Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham, that they know how to keep out their opponents and have more savvy and nous at the back.

Then again, in those games QPR have been fundamentally defensive, while Redknapp will surely be more attacking against direct rivals here. But if Villa have been porous at the back, QPR are in their position in no small part because they have been the least prolific team in the league. Aston Villa always play with enterprise and look to take the game to the opposition, but they have not been great in possession for most of the season, another aspect of their inconsistent nature.

With QPR resurgent and their attack looking more potent at last, their superior experience and decision making in vital areas of the pitch could give them a crucial edge in this game. Aston Villa 1-2 QPR.

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