Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill returns to Aston Villa this weekend while West Brom manager Roy Hodgson returns to Liverpool.
When they head back to their old stomping grounds this weekend, both Roy Hodgson and Martin O’Neill will have bittersweet memories.
Martin O’Neill had a very good time of it at Villa Park, just how good- supporters are realising now, being forced to endure the drab football of Alex McLeish which has seen them stuck in 15th place.
A loss for Villa this weekend would be almost disastrous. It would set them up for their game in hand away at Bolton on Tuesday night to essentially become a relegation six-pointer.
O’Neill has been a revelation since moving to Sunderland. Only the lethargy which usually inhabits mid-table sides at the end of the season is beginning to creep in, with a home draw with Wolves and a 4-0 loss to Everton.
He will be well up for this one, and will have drummed that into his players. While much of the time he spent with Villa was positive, leading them towards competing for Champions League football, the way he left sticks in the throats of fans.
He walked out on them with days to go before the season kicked off in 2010, leaving the club’s plans in disarray. Gerard Houllier was installed as a panic appointment and did more harm than good, and who knows, if O’Neill had left with more notice, Randy Lerner and the board may have got it right, and Alex McLeish would not be in charge now.
Villa fans will have identified this fixture as a great chance to get three points and lift themselves clear of the relegation battle. O’Neill can cause maximum damage to Villa by stopping them, and sending them into a tense showdown with Bolton next week.
Over the next two games we will see what Villa are really made of, whether they are good enough to stay up and have just been unlucky with injuries, or whether they are as poor a side any of the relegation battlers.
Over at Anfield on Saturday Roy Hodgson may be too polite to admit it, but he would truly love to get a win.
The West Brom manager was treated awfully by Liverpool fans, at a time of major boardroom upheaval for the club. Fans were desperate for him to be sacked, less than enthralled with his signings and early results, and called for Kenny Dalglish to take over.
You get what you wish for.
At times while Liverpool have floundered this year, West Brom have looked solid, and while there are five places between the clubs in eighth and 13th, there is only four points separating them.
Liverpool are on a high from their FA Cup semi-final win, and will be keen to avoid a repeat of what happened after this last visit to Wembley. Arsenal went to Anfield and won 2-1, knocking the confidence out of them, sending them on a losing run.
Should that happen again, through a loss to West Brom, Kenny Dalglish’ men way well find themselves on a similar downwards spiral, leading into their FA Cup Final.
So that is why Liverpool must go all out for the win this weekend to keep their momentum, but if they fail, Hodgson will have succeeded in damaging their prospects for the season’s final month.
image: © nicksarebi
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