Football: Villa prepare for test of title credentials

THE ONE proviso about Aston Villa's vibrant start to the season has been the opponents who have been blasting them off the pitch. "They haven't played anyone yet," has been said more often than a child's wish list for Christmas, but no one will be able to level that charge by next Sunday evening.

Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal in eight days would test any team and if Villa are still top of the Premiership after that there will be no doubts about their currency as genuine championship contenders. Alternatively, they could be exposed as a vastly improved side who need to travel further.

Stopping the current one-point gap being eroded is their priority, which is apt, as their manager, John Gregory, thought he might be a stop gap himself when he was appointed last February with Villa just above the relegation places. The strain then, he insists, weighed more heavily than the burdens of this week.

"The pressure last season when I took over was far greater than it is now," he said, "because I knew I had to get it right or face the sack. Football's a business and Villa needed a quick fix so they went for me because they knew me well. I wasn't the first choice with the fans, I was here to fill the gap. So this isn't a make or break period for our season."

United, in second place, are regarded as Villa's most potent challengers but Gregory insists, win or lose, the result will not be decisive, as Leeds and Blackburn got the worse of the encounters with Alex Ferguson's team in 1991-2 and 1994-5 and United still finished champions.

"It's not about who you beat but how many teams you beat during the season," he said. "Look at Sheffield Wednesday. They've beaten United and Arsenal and drawn with Chelsea but lost to Southampton and Blackburn. Arsenal only took one point off us last year but won the title.

"What these games will do is give us a guideline as to how good we are. Being chased by United is a new thing for a lot of our lads but the outcome is not as vital as the return fixture in May. That's the one I want to win."

Today's match will have several undertones, not least the meeting of strikers playing against their old clubs. Dion Dublin, who has scored seven goals at the rate of one every 50 minutes since joining Villa, spent two years at Old Trafford while United's Dwight Yorke - going through a relative barren spell with "only" 12 goals from 18 appearances - spent nine years at Villa.

The attention will rightly be on the attacks as both have been prolific, but the defences will probably decide the outcome as both teams have been shipping goals recklessly recently. United have let in 11 in their last five matches, while Villa had conceded 16 in five and half games by half- time last Saturday after five in their first 13 outings.

Gregory estimates the result could be 9-9, which is far, far more than can be expected at Ewood Park today where Brian Kidd, Ferguson's assistant at Old Trafford until Thursday, will have his first match as Blackburn manager. Rovers, bottom, meet the sliding Charlton Athletic and after 196 minutes without a Premiership goal, just one will do as long as it guarantees three much-needed points.

Add a golden Lancashire scenario of defeats for Southampton at Leicester, Coventry at Wimbledon and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday on Monday and a rare sight could be seen: smiles on the faces of Blackburn's supporters.

Tony Parkes, the caretaker manager, will be in charge of the team for the last time in his fourth spell in charge but Kidd will be given an inkling to the club's worst problem when he reads the team-sheet. Chris Sutton, Darren Peacock, Jason Wilcox and Billy McKinlay might be fit, but even if they are, the treatment room will still be bursting at the seams.

Had Peter Johnson not stepped down as Everton chairman on Monday, Goodison Park would have been bursting with screams of abuse in the wake of his selling Duncan Ferguson to Newcastle. Instead Sir Philip Carter and Bill Kenwright, the two men spearheading a takeover of the club, will be warmly greeted.

Everton meet Chelsea who, paradoxically, crumbled before Ferguson's aerial power in the corresponding fixture last season, losing 3-1. Now the home team will have to trade finesse against a team who are possibly the most pleasing to the eye in the Premiership and if the "under new management" signs do not have a galvanising effect you fear the worst. As Kenwright said earlier this week: "There have been many painful moments at Goodison in recent years."

Arsenal and Liverpool, two teams with recent results they would prefer to forget, have difficult trips to Derby and Tottenham respectively, which means that West Ham could be oppressively close to the top of the Premiership if they prevail at Leeds and the two leaders draw at Villa Park.

That is a big if, however, as Leeds have not disintegrated on George Graham's departure - and they could even be better under David O'Leary. They were not disgraced against at Old Trafford last Sunday and qualification for the Uefa Cup for the second season running appears to be within their compass.

Which prompts a question. Why do Leeds want to spend in excess of pounds 4m on 30-year-old David Batty when David Hopkin and Alf Inge Haaland have been doing the midfield holding job well? Today's match, sixth against third, might provide an answer.