Twelve months ago, Aston Villa were in a dogfight with Arsenal for fourth spot in the Premier League. Or so it seemed. A 1-0 loss at home to Chelsea in late February was the club’s first since November, but by then the gas had run out. Villa wouldn’t win another match until May, and they took just 11 of the season’s remaining 36 available points. And Gabriel Agbonlahor scored just a single goal.

Birmingham City have welcomed Craig Gardner to St Andrew's after confirming that the midfielder has completed a £3 million move from local rivals Aston Villa.

Gardner, 23, has signed a four-and-a-half year deal with Birmingham and becomes Alex McLeish's second signing of the January transfer window after the arrival of fellow midfielder Michel from Sporting Gijon.

Moustapha Salifou was in the wrong place at the wrong time. So was Group B of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.

Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light was Aston Villa’s most important result of the season to date. More important than the August 24 win at Anfield; more important than the October 17 win at home to Chelsea. Even more important than Saturday’s victory at Manchester United.

Listeners of the ESPN Soccernet Podcast may remember an episode about 18 months ago when producer Adam Williams compared then-Middlesbrough left-winger Stewart Downing to Bayern Munich maestro Franck Ribery. Adam got quite the ribbing over that remark, and his colleagues still give him stick about it when the opportunity presents itself.

You're only as good as your best players. It's a saying that coaches come back to time and again, no matter the sport. And it's a mantra that will be giving Martin O'Neill much joy as his top men depart for the international break.

The opening third of the Premier League campaign could not have ended on a finer note for the Aston Villa manager. A convincing win over Bolton Wanderers to remain in fifth place; a comprehensive performance with goals spaced 70 minutes apart. And most encouragingly, another fine performance turned in by James Milner, who scored once and set up a pair of goals en route to the 5-1 victory. The display was enough to earn the 23-year-old another call-up to the England squad.

I happen to know a guy whose nephew’s babysitter’s younger brother was hiding under the table at the Dnipropetrovsk restaurant when Emile Heskey caught the ire of England manager Fabio Capello for sending text messages during dinner. Here’s what the little guy saw.

Gareth Barry returned to Villa Park on Monday, but the match between Aston Villa and Manchester City was much more than merely a chance for the locals to spew their vitriol at their former skipper. And not just because he was anonymous for the larger part of 90 minutes.

Gareth Barry returned to Villa Park on Monday, but the match between Aston Villa and Manchester City was much more than merely a chance for the locals to spew their vitriol at their former skipper. And not just because he was anonymous for the larger part of 90 minutes.

I met a friend at a local pub on Sunday afternoon to chat about the previous day's football matches. He's a Fulham supporter and thought his side were worth at least a point against Arsenal. I agreed. He also mentioned that Aston Villa were the most difficult side in the Premier League to get a sense of. I agreed with that as well.

Villa didn't turn in a stinker at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, where they lost 2-1 to a late David Dunn penalty. By and large, the match was watchable, with good attempts being made at either end. And as the visiting team, Villa played a mostly decent away game, and might have deserved a share of the points from their efforts.

It wasn’t pretty. You could even make the case that Aston Villa didn’t deserve to win the Birmingham derby. Still, they managed to escape a hostile ground with three points, and that counts for something.