Splitting the atom might be easier

 

WBA v A Villa
Premier League
8pm, Sky Sports 1

NEIGHBOURS, EVERYBODY NEEDS GOOD NEIGHBOURS

I’ve decided to spend two hours trying to split the atom tonight at 8pm – it might be easier than finding a winner between WBA and Aston Villa.

Just four miles between the two West Midlands teams, geographically, and in the Premier League they are even closer. Next door neighbours on 14 points and split by a goal difference of just one.

On top of that there’s very little to choose between them in previous encounters with the last 10 encounters never seeing a margin of more than one goal:

HEAD TO HEAD RECORD
(Max last 10 only)
Jan 2013 Premier West Brom 2-2 Aston Villa
Sep 2012 Premier Aston Villa 1-1 West Brom
Apr 2012 Premier West Brom 0-0 Aston Villa
Oct 2011 Premier Aston Villa 1-2 West Brom
Apr 2011 Premier West Brom 2-1 Aston Villa
Dec 2010 Premier Aston Villa 2-1 West Brom
Jan 2009 Premier Aston Villa 2-1 West Brom
Sep 2008 Premier West Brom 1-2 Aston Villa
Apr 2006 Premier Aston Villa 0-0 West Brom
Jan 2006 Premier West Brom 1-2 Aston Villa

West Brom forward Nicolas Anelka is fit after recovering from the groin problem that ruled him out against Chelsea.

The Baggies will assess Scott Sinclair’s hamstring injury, while Billy Jones is ruled out with a similar problem.

Aston Villa are optimistic that Christian Benteke and Andreas Weimann will be fit to play despite respective knee and hamstring injuries.

Ciaran Clark, Antonio Luna and Fabian Delph are also back in contention.

I’m on the draw, obviously.

STAR FORECAST
(stake between 0.5 and 10 points)
10 points DRAW at around 9/4

HOT TICKETS

Four new dates have been announced after tickets for the first Monty Python live show for 30 years sold out within 44 seconds.

The veteran comedy troupe – John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones – announced they were getting back together last week.

A spokesman for the Pythons said the July 1 event sold out in 43.5 seconds on Monday morning and tickets for four further shows had immediately gone on sale.

Tickets for the show appeared for resale on ticket listing websites within minutes for up to £3,000 each.

The concerts at the venue in Greenwich, southeast London, come more than 30 years after their last stage performance.

Speaking at last week’s news conference, they said they would include some of their most famous routines, including the dead parrot sketch.