There are certain fixtures in the football calendar that fill you with confidence. And then there are the ones that make you think before a ball has even been kicked.
Tomorrow we head to Old Trafford to face Manchester United, and if you’re an Aston Villa supporter like me, you’ll know exactly what that means.
Don’t worry my fellow Villans, it’s not because they’re a better side than us. No. It’s because they’re our bogey side. You only have to look at the head to head record, and without even checking, I guarantee they’ve got more wins over us for the longest time.
Who can forget Boxing Day 2023. We were battering United, went two goals up, cruising, only to somehow lose 3–2 by the end. I mean, we were the better side. Clearly. But that ridiculous jinx they have over us dragged them through once again.
Then last year. The final game of the season. Against our bogey side. Of course it was. All we needed was a draw, just a draw, and because of how the other results fell, we’d have been in the Champions League. But no. The bogey team struck again.
Because football doesn’t care about logic when it comes to these sorts of fixtures. Form goes out the window. Quality sometimes counts for very little. And history, unfortunately, has a habit of repeating itself when we turn up at Old Trafford. But it’s Manchester United. And they just seem to find a way against us.
Still, there is at least one reason for a bit of optimism heading into this one. The lads will travel to Manchester on the back of that excellent away win in Europe on Thursday night against Lille. Winning away from home in Europe is never easy, and results like that can do wonders for confidence and belief within a squad.
So while history tells us one thing, and the whole bogey side narrative refuses to go away, perhaps that result in France might just give the players the lift they need. UTV