Gary Gardner Is Good, Nathan Delfouneso Is Hurt

Here's the proof!

That link will take you to a minute-by-minute match report on the FA's website. If you scroll to the bottom of the match report, you will see that Nathan Delfouneso left the game in the 10th minute due to an injury. Because nothing Aston Villa related can ever be 100% good. No word on the severity of the injury, but let's all hope it's nothing too major.

As for the happier bit of news, Gary Gardner's 90th and 91st minute goals turned a  3-0 romp into a 5-0 laugher for the England U-21s against their counterparts from Iceland. Gardner still hasn't gotten much of a look with the first team this season but he has by all accounts made some pretty significant progress since the end of last season and performances like this aren't going to hurt his standing. With a thin Villa midfield currently anchored by a 32-year-old with a pretty extensive recent injury history, any progress being made by a young Villa midfielder is quite encouraging.