With Liverpool and Everton both winning, combined with Newcastle's heavy defeat against Man United, it was vital that we took the three points today. For a while it looked doubtful that we would.
Chances came thick and fast yet none of our talented array of stars could finish them off. All but one young man. You can talk about Wayne Rooney all you like but the stats don't lie- Carlton Cole has a far better scoring rate than the Everton youngster. 7 goals in 15 outings is not bad going by anyones standards, let alone a player doing this in his first 15 senior games. I wonder if he'll be picked from the start at Villa next week...
One man who should maybe sit it out is Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Now, don't get me wrong, I think Jimmy is a magnificent player on his day. Unfortunately, those days haven't been coming around too often this season. He has set his standards so high in the past that we come to expect only the best from him. So when he is in a bad patch like he is right now, it seems much worse than it is.
But when he misses the three great chances that he did today, you've got to be wondering where his next goal is going to come from. Perhaps Ranieri is thinkng that this bad patch has got to end some time- after all, it is going to end. Isn't it? I just hope, for Claudio Ranieri's sake as well as Jimmy's, that it is sooner rather than later.
Which leads me on to the team to play Villa next week. Now, assuming Gronks and Stanic recover from minor injuries (and no one gets injured in the mean time!), Claudio is going to have a real headache when it comes to his team selection. But for all the right reasons- it's who he needs to leave out that he's got to worry about.
In goal, Carlo picks himself these days- there's no one better shot stopper in the Premiership at the moment. I'd go with three at the back, given Villa's woeful scoring record, with Gallas, Desailly and JT. Then, we'll go with three across the middle.
I'd play Lamps and Petit for solidity and then Gronks to offer some pace and guile (and hopefully some decent service). Franco can play in the hole behind the front two, as I feel he is at his most dangerous running the show from deep.
Eidur is due a start sooner or later and he didn't look too pleased when Claudio gave him all of five minutes in the Bolton game (his former club). So I'd go with him, alongside the form man of the moment- Carlton Cole. I feel that team would have more than enough to beat Villa but I'm not the boss- Claudio Ranieri is.