With Liverpool top of the Premier League after their six-goal victory over Derby, Chelsea needed three points if they were to remain on course to win back the Premier League from Manchester United. However the Blues have failed to win at Villa Park for previous eight occasions.

Zat Knight Repays £3.5m Transfer Investment Immediately With Debut Goal

Villa manager Martin O’Neill is reaping the reward from his summer spending just 36 hours after the transfer window slammed shut until January. Zat Knight who recently moved to Birmingham to join the Villa Park outfit in a £3.5m transfer from Fulham, opened his goal scoring account on his debut to give his new side the lead just after half time.

Chelsea All Possession No Penetration

Mourinho’s men enjoyed all the possession, but they failed to carve clear cut openings for a shot on goal. Even for all the stellar players in the Chelsea team in the whole ninety minutes they managed just two feeble attempts on target. On both occasions Scott Carson made comfortable saves from Essien & SWP.

Villa held off the Chelsea attack in the second half, and made the most of counter attacks. Gabriel Agbonlahor made the most of on such attack converting Ashley Young’s cross to guarantee the victory for Villa.

New Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez is continuing his pursuit of his Northern Ireland team members having already signed Aaron Hughes. This time he has secured the services of Villa midfielder Steven Davis.

Davis has moved to Craven Cottage after spending a season under the management of fellow countryman Martin O’Neill. Davis struggled to hold down a regular place in the Villa midfield.

Sanchez made Davis the youngest captain of Northern Ireland during his reign as an International manager. Neither Fulham or Aston Villa have disclosed the details of the deal but the transfer fee is believed to be around £4million.

Aston Villa have launched their new club crest. The club had undertaken extensive research to find what the fans wanted from a new club crest to mark a new beginning for the club.

Next season will be the first whole season that the club has been owned by Randy Lerner. It will also be the first season that manager Martin O’Neill has been able to invest in his squad and prepare the players over the summer.

The new badge has a few small but important changes that reflect the new Villa. Firstly is the introduction of the letters F and C, which in a world where Football is about business, services and profits it demonstrates that the Aston Villa is a Football Club and that is what they intend to focus on.

The second is most important change is the star, used by the few successful clubs & countries to indicate their success in the most elite competitions. With the 25 year anniversary of the European Cup (Champions League of its day) victory over Bayern Munich approaching on the 26th May it seems fitting that the star is an integral part of the new design, and that it may serve as the inspiration needed to drive toward a similar success.

There is still focus on the Lion, which is no longer fragmented but unified to symbolise the togetherness of the club. Similarly the club motto is still part of the badge, it is a statement that Villa have not adhered to in recent seasons as they have been far from Prepared.

The decision to keep the shield is another attempt maintain the history as it is similar to the crest on the old Trinity Road stand. The shield which looks like a family coat of arms, which is exact what the club are trying to promote the Aston Villa family.

The Former Czech Republic winger will be out of contract this summer and has no intention of retiring just yet. His Villa career has been bighted by a bust up with manager Martin O’Neill, when Berger was asked to prove himself in the reserves.

Berger could find a home in America like David Beckham and ply his trade in the MLS. He could be offered another deal at Villa, but would probably only be a squad player as Martin O’Neill looks to further strengthen his squad with Randy Lerner’s war chest. He already has stiff competition for a place with talented youngsters like Gabriel Agbonlahor and January signing Ashley Young.

Berger will take till the end of the season to consider what is best for him and his family before making a decision about where his career will take him in the future.

George Gillett has decided to take advantage of the collapse of the negotiations between Dubai International Capital and the Liverpool board, to launch his bid to become the third American to buy an English premier league club. With Randy Lerner at Aston Villa and the Glazers at Manchester United.

The DIC bid was worth £450M in total with only about 150M of that being used for buying out the share holders. The remainder would be spent on new players as Rafa Benitez requires and a new stadium as the capacity of Anfield is limiting the club’s income as they could easily sell 70000 seats for home games.

The Gillett bid is believed to be worth more to the share holders with reports in the media of it being an extra £500 a share; which the board are duty bound to consider as they have to answer to their share holders not the fans. However the source of the revenue for the Americans bid is not as transparent as that of DIC who have the worlds eighth richest man at the helm and a queue of investment banks willing to lend him anything he requires as he has the assets to back it. The sixty-nine year old American on the other hand has already been bankrupt fifteen years ago, but has since risen like a phoenix from the flames and has built his empire with the Montreal Canadiens the jewel in the crown.

There have also been rumours of Tom Hicks supporting the deal, the Texan owns the Texas Rangers, and could provide much needed financial support in the potential $850 000 000 deal.

Should the deal be finalised Liverpool would be the seventh premiership club to be foreign owned including three of the top four. As Chelsea, AstonVilla, Manchester United, West Ham, Fulham and Portsmouth all have foreign ownership. Can it be good for the English game?

In Steve McClaren’s first squad of 2007 there are a number of surprise inclusions in comparison to his last gathering. He has named twenty-eight players in the squad for the midweek friendly against Spain, expecting that some players will drop out with knocks from games over the weekend.

There are a number of players that will be doing their best to ensure that they are not injured Barton, Barry, Dyer and a Woodgate; Barton because it is his first call up to the full squad, Barry, Dyer and Woodgate will hope to shine in their first call up under McClaren having endured a while in international exile.

Johnson, Terry and Owen Hargreaves are all just back from injuries and straight in to international duty.

Full squad:

Goalkeepers:
Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur), Chris Kirkland (Wigan Athletic), Ben Foster (Manchester United).

Defenders:
Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Micah Richards (Manchester City), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Gary Neville (Manchester United), Michael Dawson (Tottenham Hotspur), Phil Neville (Everton), Jonathan Woodgate (Real Madrid).

Midfielders:
Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Scott Parker (Newcastle United), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham Hotspur), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), Kieron Dyer (Newcastle United), Joey Barton (Manchester City).

Forwards:
Andy Johnson (Everton), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur).

Watford will receive over £9M in cash for youngster Ashley Young as he moves north to join Aston Villa. They also stand to receive further payments dependent upon appearances and Young’s success at his new club.

The move has dragged on for over a week and Young had indicated that he would prefer a move to Tottenham last week after he turned down the opportunity of playing with West Ham. However Spurs were not prepared to match the Hornets valuation of the player.

Martin O’Neill continues to invest Randy Learner’s dollars on players that he believes will stop them from entering the relegation battle and develop into a team that will compete for Europe next season.

The Irishman has landed John Carew from Lyon as part of the deal that sees Baros reunited with his former Liverpool boss Gerard Houlier. The Norwegian striker has signed a three year deal with Villa and is looking forward to playing under O’Neill. The well travelled 27 year old can now add England to the list of countries where he has played for a number of top teams. Lyon in France, Valencia in Spain, Roma in Italy and Besiktas in Turkey.

The draw for the Football Association Challenge Cup sponored by EON Third round proper has not disappointed on any front. The romance of the cup is alive and well, with many of the smaller, lower league clubs facing opposition from the Premiership. Chelsea play hosts to bottom of League 2 Macclesfield Town in a tie that is very much in the vain of the princes versus the paupers.

Cup holders Liverpool will entertain Arsenal in a repeat of their upcoming Carling Cup quarter final, while last years finalists West Ham United have a home tie against Brighton & Hove Albion.

Tottenham who have not managed an away victory on home soil in the league will be hoping that they can overcome a Cardiff City side who have made Ninian Park a fortress as they fight for automatic promotion to the Premiership.

FA Cup third round draw:
Blackpool v Aldershot Town or Basingstoke Town?Barnet v Colchester United?Sheffield United v Swansea City
Reading v Burnley
Portsmouth v Wigan Athletic
Mansfield Town or Doncaster Rovers v Bolton Wanderers
West Ham United v Brighton & Hove Albion
Leicester City v Fulham
Derby County v Wrexham
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Oldham Athletic
Bury or Chester City v Ipswich Town
Manchester United v Aston Villa
Sheffield Wednesday v Manchester City
Tamworth v Norwich City
Salisbury City or Nottingham Forest v Charlton Athletic
Cardiff City v Tottenham Hotspur
Preston North End v Sunderland
Liverpool v Arsenal
Bristol Rovers or Bournemouth v Hereford United
Watford v Stockport County
Crystal Palace v Swindon Town
Bristol City v Coventry City
Peterborough United v Plymouth Argyle
Queens Park Rangers v Luton Town
Southend United v Barnsley
West Bromwich Albion v Leeds United
Hull City v Middlesbrough
Birmingham City v Newcastle United
Torquay United or Leyton Orient v Southampton
Everton v Blackburn Rovers
Chelsea v Macclesfield Town
Stoke City v Bradford City or Millwall

Stan Collymore announced earlier this week that he has a desire to return to football, stating his intent to return to the top flight.

Stan’s agent has indicated that he wants to play for one of his old clubs Aston Villa. The thought of joining Randy’s Revolution and working with manager Martin O’Neill again could be the catalyst for such a decision. O’Neill managed Collymore during the players brief spell for Leicester at the Walkers Stadium.

However when quizzed by Skysports O’Neill was reluctant to state if Collymore would be welcome at Villa or not; saying “He did terrifically well for me in a short period of time at Leicester. But if you’re asking me today whether I could make an assessment that would be a difficult call.”