Stewart Downing’s plan for the derby
Monday 29th November 2010, 2:00PM GMT.
Stewart Downing believes Villa must aim to silence the St Andrew’s crowd in Wednesday’s crunch Carling Cup quarter-final against derby rivals Birmingham.
The winger will be in the claret and blue ranks for the first time in a West Midlands derby on Blues’ soil, when the two teams meet in the last eight.
Villa will be desperate to get through after reaching the final last season but must overcome their Second City opponents to advance, although they have had the edge on the blue half of Birmingham in recent meetings and are undefeated at St Andrew’s since 2005.
For that to continue, Downing reckons Villa must take the game to their hosts and seize the advantage early.
He said: “It’s going to be hostile and they’re going to get right behind their team.
“But if we score and can keep them quiet then we can start passing the ball and playing our game. You’ve got to immediately quieten the crowd.
“We’ve got to play our normal game and not let the atmosphere intimidate us.”
Villa hope to have derby-day goal king Gabby Agbonlahor back after he missed Saturday’s game through illness.
UK Sport
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