Villa started slowly but eventually took control of their UEFA Cup tie against Litex Lovich with a 3-1 win in Bulgaria this afternoon.

After falling behind from a direct free kick, Reo-Coker levelled matters – his second goal of the week after his opener at Spurs – who would have thought he’d have more goals than bookings at this stage?

Talking of yellow cards, the hosts then lost their first player to an early bath thanks to two bookings – the second card dished out for feigning an injury. A few minutes later, the Bulgarians were down to nine men after a deliberate handball on the goal line. Barry despatched the resultant penalty. The in-form Petrov then rounded off the scoring with Villa’s third in injury time.

Let’s get to the meat of the matter though – there was some interesting lineup changes from O’Neill…

Carew missed out as expected with his ankle injury sustained at Spurs, but rather worryingly, Ashley Young also sat out with a knock to his knee. No word on the severity of that yet, so we can only hope it’s a minor injury that won’t threaten his start against the Baggies at the weekend.

The Villa boss started with a five man midfield and just Agbonlahor up front. Milner was brought in with Gardner replacing Young. Interesting that O’Neill didn’t take the opportunity to see how Harewood faired with Gabby up front – evidence perhaps that it will be Milner selected against West Brom with Young (if fit) perhaps pushed up in support. News on the Young injury is key then – he will be a strong pick against West Brom if given the licence to roam just off Agbonlahor.