Aston Villa at Fulham: Updates, team news, banter, links and odds

The day has come and I've had my bet. £10 on Aston Villa and Sunderland to win and I think it is possible. I think the long shot is Sunderland, but I'd just love it for that snake Stewart Downing to lose today, so the bet is mostly icing on the cake.

I shouldn't be bitter, but I am today. It will pass, regardless of the result and as long as he loses at Villa Park, that is all that matters.

But that is for another day. Today is about Aston Villa. The players are in London. Alex McLeish is feeding them a full English and they're talking tactics and I was going to write about how that conversation went with the players, but today isn't about jokes, well not yet anyway, but things could get messy, even though the manager knows he has no honeymoon period.

Not overnight

But we shouldn't expect to see it all happen or fall into place today and you could be forgiven if you were to predict the game turned out to be a scrappy affair today.

You see, despite the summer and pre-season, the magic doesn't happen overnight and all that despite me saying something about it yesterday.

I'm not defending the manager if we lose or don't pick up a point today, it is his first proper competitive game and all things take time and that is why I think it could be scrappy. It could be all hands to the pump.

But, I still expect three points, because we are playing Fulham, not Chelsea and I think we will get it. I really do.

Updates, team news, links and all that jazz

So, kick off is in just over five hours. When we get the team news, we will throw it in here (I'm aiming to be the first to get it in the comments all season) and on Twitter.

If you want to watch the match too, you should click here and sign up to watch it in your browser.

So, before kick off, take a moment. You see, for everyone that says support your club, this is what they are talking about. It isn't on a Tuesday morning, it is Saturday at 3pm.

So, today, we forget about everything else. It is just about the football because that is what it really is all about. That and a cheeky bet. Odds below.

Odds for Fulham