Aston Villa Rumours

West Bromwich Albion

West Broms Joleon Lescott joins Villa

In a transfer be>lieved to be in the region of 1 million pounds m that could double to 2 million pounds with add-ons Aston Villa have purchased West Brom defender Joleon Lescott.

The deal had been delayed as West Brom was looking for a replacement for Joleon Lescott, with the arrival of Jonny Evans, the deal could proved bringing Joleon Lescott to Villa Park.

The Former England defender has signed a 2 year contract with villa and will give Tim Sherwood more options in shoring up the Aston Villa defence.

Joleon Lescot is yet another former Man City player, leaving Man City for West Brom in the summer of 2014 on a free transfer.


Joleon Lescot was born 16th August 1982, although he mostly plays as a central defender, he is able to play in various positions in the defencive line up. Lescot was born in Birmingham and began his footballing carear with Wolverhampton Wanderers and quickly became a fan favourite being voted the fans young player of the year 2 years running. In 2006 Lescott was bought by Everton for £5 million where he spent 2 seasons before moving to Manchester City for a massive £22 million tranfer fee, at Man City he was part of a team who won the premeirship twice as well as an FA cup and League cup, he spent five year at Man City before being releases and moving to West Brom in 2014, here at Aston Villa Rumours we welcome Joleon Lescot to our club and look forward to watching him this coming season.

Diaby strike lifts Gunners third

Arsenal put their treble cup heartbreak behind them after Abou Diaby's early goal helped them climb third with a 1-0 victory at Aston Villa.

Diaby, whose only other goal for the Gunners was against Villa at Highbury last season, inadvertently deflected a mishit shot from Julio Baptista past Thomas Sorensen after 10 minutes.

It enabled the visitors to move ahead of Liverpool in the battle to claim a Champions League spot.

Arsenal had been beaten in the Carling Cup final and then crashed out of the FA Cup and Champions League in the space of 11 dismal days.

But if they could have hand-picked a fixture in which to bounce back the treble blow then it would have been Villa and they are now unbeaten in 17 matches with the Midlands club.

Arsenal, lacking four players through suspension plus the injured Thierry Henry, were not at their free-flowing best.

But they still would have won more comfortably and Jeremie Aliadiere could have finished with a hat-trick had he shown more clinical finishing.

Cesc Fabregas impressed in the centre of midfield for the Gunners, who are now two points in front of Liverpool and with a game in hand.

Villa's main threat came from John Carew - whose goals had twice eliminated the Gunners from the Champions League when with Valencia - although captain Gareth Barry also impressed.

But two wins in the last 17 league games means Villa are still looking over their shoulder at the wrong end of the table rather than contemplating a late surge for a European spot.

Diaby knew little about the goal which settled the issue.

Baptista's low drive from just outside the box looked to be going wide but it inadvertently struck Diaby, who had made a good run forward, and deflected past goalkeeper Sorensen into the corner of the net.

Villa were indebted to Sorensen for keeping them in contention when Aliadiere sprinted past central defender Olof Mellberg after racing onto Cesc Fabregas' throughball.

The Danish international managed to divert Aliadiere's low shot around the post.

Aliadiere's pace was causing Villa problems and he again bore down on the Villa goal after Denilson had spotted his run but this time, with Mellberg in close attention, he appeared to step on the ball.

Johan Djourou picked up the first yellow card of the game after bringing down Carew on the edge of the Gunners' box - but Barry's free-kick was blocked by the defensive wall.

Carew was posing the main threat for Villa and goalkeeper Jens Lehmann came 10 yards outside his area to hack the ball clear as he tried to reach Ashley Young's through pass.

The Norwegian international curled a shot just over the bar after holding off the challenge of Gilberto.

Villa started to build some momentum and Barry beat the offside trap to square the ball invitingly into the path of Young some 12 yards out - but he drilled his shot straight at Lehmann, who was able to parry.

Aliadiere had another chance but this time his downward header from Freddie Ljungberg's powerful centre bounced over the bar.

Villa started the second period in a positive vein and a 50-yard pass from Mellberg picked out the run of Carew - but he overran the ball and it flew through to Lehmann.

Then Gabriel Agbonlahor was only inches away from connecting with a driven centre by Barry.

Ljungberg came to Arsenal's rescue in the 56th minute when he cleared off the line after Diaby had deflected Barry's corner goalwards when under pressure from Agbonlahor.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger made his first substitution after 62 minutes, replacing Diaby with Tomas Rosicky.

Soon afterwards Baptista made way for Mathieu Flamini, with Ljungberg moving into a more central attacking role.

Villa defender Cahill produced a crucial tackle to halt Ljungberg as the visitors started to reassert themselves - but there was little goalmouth activity in the closing stages.

Cahill may return for Gunners clash

Central defender Gary Cahill is poised to return to the Aston Villa starting line-up for Wednesday's home Premiership clash with Arsenal

Cahill was axed for the 1-1 draw at Fulham 10 days ago but is likely to get a recall in place of ankle injury victim Martin Laursen although Liam Ridgewell could also come into contention.

Striker Luke Moore is pushing for a recall after scoring four goals in as many reserve games since recovering from a shoulder problem.

Shaun Maloney is battling to recover from a virus which kept him out of training last week as Villa prepare for their first home match for five and a half weeks.

Villa (from): Sorensen, Taylor, Bardsley, Hughes, Mellberg, Cahill, Ridgewell, Bouma, Samuel, Agbonlahor, Petrov, McCann, Barry, Davis, Osbourne, Gardner, Maloney, Young, Carew, Angel, Moore.

McShane doubtful for Ireland games
West Brom defender Paul McShane is struggling for fitness ahead of Republic of Ireland's European Championship qualifiers.

Sodje: On loan at Hawthorns
Sodje: Baggies can handle top flight, On-loan defender Sam Sodje believes West Brom will hold their own in the Premiership if they can secure promotion.

Davies: Trial at Colchester
Davies handed second Us chance, West Brom midfielder Rob Davies is back on trial at Colchester as he attempts to persuade manager Geraint Williams to take him on permanently.

McShane: Baggies let the tempo drop - McShane: Albion must be ruthless, West Brom defender Paul McShane knows Albion need to rediscover their ruthless streak if they are to get their promotion push back on track.

Johnson: Celebrates goal at The Hawthorns - Blues recover to draw at Albion, Birmingham moved back into the Championship's top two after Damien Johnson's dramatic late strike earned the 10 men a 1-1 draw at West Brom.

"There's been some bad times, collectively we've not had the best of seasons because of where we are in the division and there's been some disappointing results and games that we should have won," said the winger.

"On that note, it's not been great. But on a personal level it's been brilliant and I hope to keep going and pushing on."

The England Under-21 international also claimed his goal against league leaders Manchester United had been a high point.

"My goal against Manchester United has got to be the highlight for me," he added.

"To score your first goal at Villa Park in front of the Holte End against a team like Manchester United was so special."

Despite enjoying his goal against United, Albrighton is all too aware that he is just as responsible for providing defensive cover when Villa are on the back foot.

"My defensive work is massively important for every game," he said.

"I have had that drilled into me since I have been at Villa. It's not all about attacking, scoring goals and making chances, if you're leaking them at the other end, you're not going to win football games.

"I have to do my defensive work as well as my attacking side. That's part of my job. All the top wingers get back to help their full-back out. It's vital."