1814: MOTD2 is on at 2200 BST on BBC2 tonight. If I were you, I'd stick the kettle on during Birmingham-Aston Villa. If it is live text you crave, Piers Newbery is manning the controversy-filled US Open tennis. Both Rafa and Roger play tonight. I'll see you for the Champions League on Tuesday.

1811: Quite literally a game of two halves there, Everton edging the first but Fulham storming back to take the second. The Cottagers' second win of the season takes them out of the drop zone and up to 10th. Everton are 19th with three points.

1808: It's bouncing around the box for what seems like ages but Fulham eventually get it away - and look at this! Tim Howard has come miles out of his area to try to pump the ball back in, but Bobby Zamora gets there first. He is challenged but the ball comes to Clint Dempsey, whose lob clears a stranded Howard but finds Sylvain Distin on the line to clear.

1807: Tony Hibbert launches a long ball from right-back. Desperate times for Everton, but it's aimless and Fulham can clear easily. But wait... the visitors now have a corner...

1805: Johnny Heitinga gives away a free-kick, but Danny Murphy's effort clips the wall and bounces wide.

1803: Simon Davies provides a near-perfect pass into the box for Bobby Zamora, who is stretching as he shoots over. FIVE minutes of injury time.

1802: Andy Johnson applauds the appreciative home fans as he trudges off to be replaced by Diomansy Kamara. One minute remaining.

1759: Oh. Baines sees the back of Duff sooner than he might have imagined. The winger has picked up a knock and is replaced by Simon Davies.

1757: Bit harsh on Leighton Baines, who appears to have his shirt pulled by Damien Duff before he responds in kind and gets the booking. Baines will be pleased to see the back of Duff after this.

1753: Everton so close to an immediate equaliser. Ball into the Fulham area flicked on by Johnny Heitinga for Marouane Fellaini, whose header is saved before Joseph Yobo's follow-up is blocked on the line.

Fulham goal: Is Leighton Baines the only person who doesn't know Damien Duff is left-footed? The full-back allows Duff to cut in onto his magic left foot and fire a magnificent shot past Tim Howard.

1751: Reports suggest Phil Neville's injury is not serious. It's a deep cut on his leg.

1750: Promising break by Fulham. Clint Dempsey picks up the ball out left, and goes for a crossfield pass TO ABSOLUTELY NO-ONE. Straight out of play.

1749: Everton pressure. Marouane Fellaini's shot hammers into Brede Hangeland's arm - but he couldn't have avoided that. From the rebound, Stephen Pienaar has an effort blocked.

1746: John Pantsil cuts in from the right and shoots low. On target but easy for Tim Howard.

1743: Everton go back to last season's formation, which featured no strikers, as Jo is replaced by Marouane Fellaini. That's a hair-for-hair substitution.

1740: Dickson Etuhu did get the ball by the way, but he also got a lot of Phil Neville, who also went to ground as he went in. A crunching challenge if you ask me, not a foul.

1738: Phil Neville has his arms over his face as he is stretchered off to applause from both sets of fans. Doesn't look good for the Everton skipper. On the plus side: heeeeeeere's Johnny (Heitinga).

1736: Controversy here. Dickson Etuhu goes in very, very hard for a 50-50 challenge with Phil Neville. That hurt just watching. As Neville lies in the centre circle, the referee incredibly waves play on. Even the Fulham players eventually ask him to stop the play.

Fulham goal: Fulham's best spell of the game is rewarded - albeit in slightly fortunate fashion. Danny Murphy's free-kick cannons off the wall into the path of Paul Konchesky, whose fierce strike pings off Sylvain Distin and completely deceives Tim Howard.

1729: Damien Duff slides the ball through for Andy Johnson, whose shot hits a defender and goes behind for a corner. Phil Neville barges into the back of John Pantsil just outside the box and Fulham now have a free-kick...

1727: Better from Fulham. Clint Dempsey gets to the byeline and cuts the ball back to Damien Duff, but the winger sidefoots his shot wastefully over the bar.

1726: Promising run from Andy Johnson, his pace giving Sylvain Distin trouble on the left. The Everton defender is penalised, rather harshly actually. Dickson Etuhu glances the header wide from the free-kick.

1723: I'm looking forward to seeing Johnny Heitinga in action for Everton. He arrived from Atletico Madrid for £6m on deadline day. "I'm a defender who wants to make tackles and every tackle that you make in Spain almost already is a yellow card," said the Dutchman. "I played in one game this season, against Malaga and after three minutes I was booked."

1720: Louis Saha, apparently, injured a hamstring in training, hence his absence today. Someone get that boy some new hamstrings.

1719: Everton kick off the second half. No changes by either side yet.

1718: David Moyes in deep conversation with Tim Cahill as the teams re-emerge after the break.

From LiverBirdMate on 606: "Zamora and Johnson haven't got going at all individually nor collectively, Murphy is tired and shouldn't be playing, risking a sending off, Pantsil is doing fine while Etuhu is trying to keep up with Cahill with a struggle."

1708: Sorry Fulham, we're not deliberately picking on you or anything, but I've just been reminded that their one league goal against Portsmouth was scored by Bobby Zamora's backside.

1706: Magnificent Macca has come up with this gem: "Fulham might be finding the net with ease in Europe but the Cottagers have now gone 302 minutes without a Premier League goal. Not surprising when their leading scorers last season - Andrew Johnson and Clint Dempsey - are now on runs of 538 and 850 minutes respectively without finding the net in the league. Before this game, the Cottagers had managed seven shots on target in three games. In comparison, Tottenham have had 47 in four."

BBC 5 live analyst Steve Claridge: "It's not been enthralling but it's been interesting. Tim Cahill has been the difference, that little bit of extra quality he has when the ball goes into the box."

1700: Fulham win a corner, but though Clint Dempsey wins the header, the ball loops over the bar and harmlessly behind.

1658: Leon Osman touches on Stephen Pienaar's cross, but a well-timed challenge from Aaron Hughes prevents him getting the shot in.

1656: Five minutes to go until half-time. If things were to stay the same, Fulham would be one place off the bottom. They have scored one league goal so far - in their opening day win at Portsmouth.

Everton goal: Danny Murphy is told enough is enough after a string of fouls and he sees yellow for bringing down Steven Pienaar. He hangs his head in disappointment - but it's about to get worse. Leighton Baines delivers the free-kick for Tim Cahill to head Everton into the lead.

1647: Damien Duff spots Clint Dempsey's run but the American heads narrowly wide from the right-wing cross. Might have done better.

1645: Poor old Bobby. To add insult to injury, he is now penalised for pulling on Joseph Yobo's shirt.

1643: Outrage from the home fans as Everton defender Joseph Yobo grapples with Bobby Zamora. Referee sees it as a 'six of one...' scenario and waves play on.

1641: Everton boss David Moyes sends Johnny Heitinga and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov out to warm up, and the visiting fans respond with a big round of applause.

1639: Good work from Jo, holding the ball up and then jinking towards the area. He beats Brede Hangeland and is brought down by Danny Murphy for a free-kick. Leighton Baines' effort comes off the top of the wall and goes behind for a corner.

1633: Hopeful penalty shout from the home fans as Tim Cahill appears to shove Damien Duff - who doesn't appeal and just gets slowly to his feet. Moments later, Sylvain Distin heads clear under pressure from Andy Johnson and from the corner, Clint Dempsey heads wide.

1631: Scrap that, just had a goalmouth scramble - which didn't happen in the entire 90 minutes at St Andrews. Jack Rodwell's effort takes a slight deflection and keeper David Stockdale almost has egg on his face, but manages to paw the ball away. Leon Osman gets the rebound stuck under his feet and then Stephen Pienaar's shot is blocked.

1630: Fulham's Clint Dempsey swings a leg hopefully at a shot from about 30 yards. Well wide. This is all a bit Birmingham-Villa so far. I remain optimistic though.

From "There's always next season" on 606: "Re 1620: that just screams 0-0 to me."

1625: What can Fulham and Everton do? Not much, on the evidence of the opening nine minutes. Not a lot to shout about.

1620: An average of four goals per game in the Prem yesterday, a measly one today... What can Fulham and Everton do? It seems unlikely to be a draw anyway: in 16 Premier League meetings, these two have never shared the points.

1616: And we're off.

1614: Right, players are out and we're good to go in the final match of the weekend.

From Steve via text on 81111: "Cheesy, can't ever remember Everton having £50m of talent on the bench before. Still think we may struggle at Fulham today."
Another Steve eh?! You guys...

1559: Cardiff lose at their spangly new stadium for the first time, and they stay eighth.

1558: Newcastle win away for the second time this season - matching what they managed in the whole of the last league campaign. The Magpies have a two-point lead over West Brom, with Middlesbrough third. Looking good for ex-Prem sides at the moment.

1555: One minute of added time remaining. Can Newcastle hang on?

Mistake by Fabricio Coloccini lets in Jay Bothroyd, who is hacked down by Alan Smith just outside the box. Clear second yellow for Smith, who may not be all that happy with Coloccini right now.

1553: Into added time. Newcastle keeper Steve Harper does well to collect a hanging cross under pressure from Gavin Rae.

1549: Boos around the Cardiff City Stadium as Joey Barton comes off, the midfielder turning and applauding both home and away fans. Geremi will have three minutes to run around, plus added time.

1544: Just as I type that last entry, Jose Enrique's mistake lets Chris Burke in and he crosses for Michael Chopra, but the ball is behind the striker and he has to take a touch before shooting. Chopra appeals for a handball after Steven Taylor's close-range block, but that would be another harsh one.

1544: Less that 10 minutes remaining, and Newcastle holding on quite comfortably at the moment while not really threatening to add to their goal tally.

1542: TEAM NEWS Fulham v Everton
Fulham are without keeper Mark Schwarzer, who picked up a neck injury on international duty for Australia. That means 23-year-old David Stockdale makes his club debut in goal, but Andrew Johnson, Bobby Zamora and Danny Murphy all return to boost Roy Hodgson's side. One change for Everton: Louis Saha is injured and misses out on facing his former club, so Jo comes in.

1539: TEAMS Fulham v Everton
Fulham: Stockdale, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Dempsey, Murphy, Etuhu, Duff, Zamora, Andrew Johnson. Subs: Zuberbuhler, Baird, Nevland, Gera, Kamara, Greening, Davies.
Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Yobo, Distin, Baines, Osman, Neville, Rodwell, Pienaar, Cahill, Jo. Subs: Nash, Heitinga, Bilyaletdinov, Vaughan, Gosling, Yakubu, Fellaini.

1538: Newcastle with another change, Nicky Butt coming off the bench to replace Ryan Taylor. Not a bad player to bring off the bench...

1535: Joey Barton is penalised for a foul on Jay Bothroyd, and throws the ball away in anger. Bothroyd wins the header from the free-kick but glances it wide.

1529: For the second day in a row, I saw a booking where there was none. I apologise. Alan Smith, who actually escaped a yellow for that lunge earlier (see 1520), is now booked for a rather soft foul. Must be for persistent offending. Cardiff bring Kelvin Etuhu on for Peter Whittingham.

1523: Newcastle are the first to make a change: Peter Lovenkrands comes on to replace Danny Guthrie. This is the Dane's first appearance since rejoining the Magpies after his loan spell last year.

1520: Trouble for Alan Smith, who lunges a touch wildly at Jay Bothroyd. The Newcastle midfielder holds the ball out at Andy Hall in the international sign for 'Come on ref, I got the ball' but Hall is unmoved.

1511: Cardiff's new stadium is just like Wembley... in that nobody is back in their seats for the beginning of the second half. Good early chance for the hosts, Michael Chopra attempting to set up Jay Bothroyd but Newcastle keeper Steve Harper bravely comes out to save at his feet. Bothroyd needs treatment.

1507: Cardiff get the second half under way against Newcastle. The Magpies will go two points clear at the top if they can hold on to their lead..

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill after the win over Birmingham: "I am delighted to have won, relieved as well, it is a derby game and you would not want to get beat. We wanted to try to win the game. It looked as though it was heading for stalemate because there were not many chances."

1458: I wonder if I saw Spike from Hi-De-Hi now whether I would still be star-struck... Probably. Decent first half at the Cardiff City Stadium, which has witnessed its first away league goal today.

1452: Crunching challenge on Michael Chopra and Cardiff have a free-kick about 35 yards out. Chops only finds the wall.

From Only1Fab4 on 606: "Re 1323: Derren Brown's greatest trick was getting an entire nation of people to watch an hour of rubbish in which he pretends to predict the lottery, but only shows the numbers after the draw has been done."
I agree

1448: Newcastle midfielder Danny Guthrie goes into the book for preventing Jay Bothroyd escaping after Alan Smith gave away possession.

1444: I went to secondary school with the daughter of Spike off Hi-De-Hi. I once saw him, but was too star-struck to ask for an autograph. Cardiff win a corner, but it's a poor delivery over everybody's head. Six minutes until half-time.

From anon via text on 81111: "I went to secondary school with Nile Ranger in north London, and I've been waiting hungrily for his first senior Newcastle goal since the start of the season."

1437: Alan Smith makes a crucial block as Joe Ledley threatens to bury an equaliser for Cardiff. Jose Enrique gets a yellow card for pulling back Chris Burke in the aftermath. Who wins the header from the free-kick? Alan Smith of course. Cardiff building up a head of steam now.

1432: Lovely move from Cardiff, Michael Chopra timing his run to perfection to get on the end of a lofted pass and square for Gavin Rae, who blazes the first-time shot over.

1431: There's Fabricio Coloccini again, this time doing his defensive work to unsettle Anthony Gerrard as the cross comes over.

Great work from Fabricio Coloccini. Cardiff keeper David Marshall flaps at a corner, and it's Coloccini who picks up the pieces and plays the ball out to Ryan Taylor on the wing. Taylor delivers the cross and Coloccini heads in his first goal for Newcastle.

1420: After soaking up the early pressure from Newcastle, Cardiff have a chance to create some of their own with a free-kick, but Peter Whittingham wallops it straight into the wall.

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish on defeat by Villa: "It was very harsh. I'm sorry we couldn't get something more from it as I think we deserved it. I can't fault the players but the only criticism is that we allowed two headers from an Ashley Young free-kick."

1415: The referee wins favour among the home fans as he turns down not one, but two, appeals for a free-kick from Nile Ranger. Looks dangerous, the Newcastle striker.

1413: Glorious sunshine in Cardiff, and the linesman has had to call for a cap. Well I never.

1408: Good start from Newcastle here, dominating early possession. Just while we're on a non-Prem-tip, can I point you in the direction of Fletch's latest blog?

1405: Fabulous atmosphere at the Cardiff City Stadium as the game kicks off.

1404: Michael Chopra up against his former club here. Newcastle still without Shola Ameobi, so the excellently-named Nile Ranger gets a chance up front.

1401: TEAMS Cardiff v Newcastle
Cardiff: Marshall, Hudson, Capaldi, Quinn, Gerrard, Rae, Whittingham, Burke, Ledley, Chopra, Bothroyd. Subs: Enckelman, Kennedy, Gyepes, McPhail, Etuhu, Taiwo, Matthews.
Newcastle: Harper, Simpson, Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Jose Enrique, Guthrie, Barton, Smith, Ryan Taylor, Nolan, Ranger. Subs: Krul, Lovenkrands, Geremi, Butt, LuaLua, Kadar, Donaldson.

1359: Don't go anywhere. We're going to have a little look at Cardiff v Newcastle in the Championship now ahead of Everton's trip to Fulham later. Both of those games will be far better than the one we just witnessed. I guarantee it.

From I'm in love with the Villa on 606: "Fantastic result. A pretty tight game but I'm very impressed with our new defenders. Collins and Dunne were both excellent. Should have had two more goals at the end there, but we won, and that's the main thing."

1355: Thank goodness that's over. Gabby Agbonlahor's header moves Villa up to sixth in the Prem - and with a game in hand over many of the teams around them. Birmingham back in 14th, and they really didn't deserve to lose that game.

1352: The last three minutes of this game have been really quite good. Sebastian Larsson's free-kick is deflected wide for a corner, for which keeper Joe Hart comes up. He is bundled over as the ball comes in but gets up to win the next header - which is the sort of header you'd expect from a goalkeeper.

1350: Birmingham win a corner as we head into three minutes of injury time - but nothing from it. Villa break once again, James Milner setting up John Carew this time but the striker's attempt to square for his team-mate is awful.

1350: Villa allow a long throw to bounce dangerously across their box... but they eventually clear, and Gabby Agbonlahor is sent clear by Ashley Young. He shoots wastefully over.

Well, that wasn't in the script was it? A goal! Ashley Young delivers the free-kick from the right, John Carew wins it and an unmarked Gabby Agbonlahor powers in the header from seven yards. That's three goals in three games against Birmingham for Agbonlahor.

1343: Here comes Chucho, driving at the Villa defence before shooting straight at Brad Friedel. The keeper spills it but quickly recovers. Good news: only seven minutes remaining.

1341: Decent effort from James Milner earns Villa a corner. Richard Dunne wins the header from Ashley Young's delivery but a Birmingham defender gets in the way.

1339: Massive cheers from the Birmingham fans as Christian Benitez gets the call from Alex McLeish. 'Chucho' replaces Garry O'Connor.

1338: Ashley Young releases James Milner with a backheel on the left and Steve Sidwell does well to win the header at the far post, but it's saved by Joe Hart. That was actually quite good.

1336: Look, if you want to switch over to the F1 or the spy thriller on BBC2, I can just give you a shout if anything happens.

From Steve, not at Villa Park or St Andrews and not the same Steve as before, via text on 81111: "Do you think the Fulham-Everton game will actually be any better? Long afternoon for you Caroline."

1332: Blues defender Roger Johnson goes rampaging down the right and crosses towards Garry O'Connor, but he can't get his feet right and the chance goes begging.

1330: Hurray! A substitution. Striker John Carew, who is bigger than me and you, comes on to replace Nigel Reo-Coker as Villa go 4-4-2.

From anon via text on 81111: "I persuaded my wife to let me watch this with the promise she can watch Come Dine With Me for the next year. What a waste!"

1325: Foolish from Gabby Agbonlahor, although at least he has woken up the crowd. The striker shoves Franck Queudrue to the ground as he attempts to get on the end of a wayward pass and picks up a booking.

1323: Thoughts on Derren Brown? Rarely felt so angry at the end of a telly programme. Wasted a whole hour of my life watching that. More fool me. Deep maths indeed. HANG ON! Gabby Agbonlahor is on the break... oh, and now he's been challenged on the edge of the area.

1320: James Milner passes the ball straight out of play... Is this some sort of elaborate joke?

1318: Oh look, there's Phil Brown.

1316: Lovely pass from Nigel Reo-Coker into space on the right wing... WHERE NOT A SINGLE PLAYER IS STANDING. Sorry, this is just awful.

1314: Birmingham sub Lee Carsley has a dig from outside the area, but it's easily caught by Brad Friedel. Apparently, that was the fourth shot on target. Anyone remember the other three?

1311: Howard Webb gets his card out for the first time after Steve Sidwell hauls back Seb Larsson as Birmingham break.

1308: Three minutes in, and there's not a lot of encouragement for those of you hoping for such things as "excitement" and "good football". It surely can't be long before Martin O'Neill makes a change.

1305: Second half under way and Birmingham have made a change, Alex McLeish brings on combative midfielder Lee Carsley for James McFadden, who has a thigh injury apparently.

BBC 5 live Sports Extra's Steve Froggatt on Adebayor: "Petulant, stupid, irresponsible. To be fair to him, he got some abuse from the Arsenal fans last season but the only way you hurt them is by scoring a goal - and that should be enough."

1300: If you missed it, the FA's chief exec told BBC 5 live this morning they will be looking into Emmanuel Adebyor's behaviour in Man City's win over Arsenal yesterday. The former Gunners striker ran the length of the pitch to celebrate his goal in front of the visiting fans, and also tried to stamp on Robin van Persie, catching the Dutchman on the side of his face.

1255: Ha! Ladies and gentleman, we have exposed Steve (see 1244) as the dastardly scoundrel he really is. He's not at St Andrews, Villa Park or even Birmingham. He's just texted in to confess that he lives in Sussex. He's probably not even called Steve. Next, you'll be telling me Santa doesn't exist. Woe...

1253: This game can only get better. Not even a yellow card to get excited about.

BBC 5 live Sports Extra analyst Steve Froggatt: "They've cancelled each other out, they're both playing the same systems. Alex McLeish will be the happier of the two managers I think. Martin O'Neill, if he wants to win this game, will have to make one or two changes."

1244: Good point. Does Steve who texted in a little while ago live at Villa Park? Or is he confused? Or was it, as I now suspect, a lame attempt to be published on this page... hang on, it worked. Meanwhile, this game is utter dross.

From redandblackT1899™ on 606: "Dreary games like this are normally lit up by wonder strikes. Here's hoping..."

From VillaFour on 606: "Really think Carew should be playing instead of Agbonlahor. He and Ashley Young have just not been as dynamic as they were last season. Milner on the other hand is looking much better and has been our main threat in all of our games so far."

1236: A move from the training ground for Aston Villa - and it's an absolute disaster. Free kick 35 yards out. Ashley Young touches it to Stiliyan Petrov, who touches it back to Young, who is tackled. Rubbish. But quite funny.

From Steve, Villa Park, via text on 81111: "That Roger Johnson is like a magnet: every high ball he heads it away."

1232: Garry O'Connor wins the header near the halfway line and sends Lee Bowyer racing through. Decent shot, beaten away by Brad Friedel. Seconds later, former Villa trainee Keith Fahey shoots narrowly wide from the edge of the box. Birmingham need to take one of these chances.

1230: Lee Bowyer goes on a promising run, cutting in from the right, but he has no support. He eventually runs into the trouble in the penalty box and Villa clear. The ball comes back in though, and Richard Dunne attempts an alarming clearance, which, fortunately for him, flies wide of the goal.

BBC 5 live Sports Extra analyst Steve Froggatt: "Every time Villa have played the ball in, Birmingham have won every single header. They need to play it in low, or one of their two giant centre-forwards on the bench needs to be playing."

1226: Alex McLeish and Martin O'Neill met 20 times when they were managers of Rangers and Celtic respectively. O'Neill won 10 times to McLeish's seven. Birmingham enjoying plenty of possession, but lacking a killer pass in the final third.

1223: James Milner makes a clever run to meet Gabby Agbonlahor's cross but he scuffs his shot, and it goes well wide.

1220: Pressure building on Villa, and Birmingham really need to make this count. Richard Dunne enjoying a good debut in Villa's defence so far though.

BBC 5 live Sports Extra analyst Steve Froggatt: "Villa's front line looks laboured. James Milner has been the only one trying to inject some energy. Ashley Young has barely had a kick of the ball so far."

1215: Seen a replay of the handball. Definitely hits Stephen Warnock's arm, but he was falling at the time and couldn't have done much about it. Would have been harsh.

1211: Massive shout for handball from the home fans as Garry O'Connor's shot hits Stephen Warnock. Sebastian Larsson's follow-up is blocked - also by Warnock. The Birmingham players didn't make much of an appeal.

1210: A few of you good people have been recalling the BBC's live text from 20 April 2008. In it, our very own Jonathan Stevenson promised to eat his face if Villa won 6-0. When Ashley Young scored to give Villa a 4-0 lead, the future of his face looked bleak.

1208: Gabby Agbonlahor wins the ball and sets up an unmarked James Milner, who shoots wide. Should have done better. Poor defending from the hosts.

1205: That's better. Crunching challenge on Gabby Agbonlahor, from both Barry Ferguson and Sebastian Larsson. Villa can't do anything with the free-kick.

1204: Actually rather a sedate start, which I wasn't expecting. Birmingham fans making plenty of noise though.

1201: Away we go...

1155: Teemu Tainio is probably going to fill in at right-back for Birmingham, with Stephen Carr injured, and will have to face the pace and trickery of Ashley Young. Here come the players. All quiet at St Andrews... not really, electric atmosphere.

From Jonathan R, via text on 81111: "Disappointed that Carew isn't starting. Don't think even a lunchtime start will keep this one tame."

1148: By the way, I don't think I need to remind you, but you can get in touch via text on 81111, on 606 or on Twitter.

1144: TEAM NEWS Birmingham v Aston Villa
Teemu Tainio has overcome a calf injury to start for Birmingham along with Keith Fahey as the midfield pair come in to replace Stephen Carr and Lee Carsley. Richard Dunne, James Collins and Stephen Warnock make their Aston Villa debuts in defence as Habib Beye, Nicky Shorey and Ciaran Clark make way.

1141: "The referee is going to have a tough job. He could have a problem keeping 11 on the pitch from us and them." So says Birmingham midfielder Franck Queudrue, enjoying a bit of pre-derby banter. This is a rivalry that stretches back to 1887, but Villa have had the upper hand in recent meetings, winning the last four including a 5-1 thumping in April 2008.

1136: TEAMS Birmingham v Aston Villa
Birmingham: Hart, Tainio, Roger Johnson, Queudrue, Parnaby, Larsson, Bowyer, Ferguson, McFadden, Fahey, O'Connor. Subs: Maik Taylor, Phillips, Benitez, Espinoza, McSheffrey, Damien Johnson, Carsley.
Aston Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Milner, Sidwell, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor. Subs: Guzan, Carew, Delph, Heskey, Shorey, Beye, Gardner.

1130: An average of four goals per game yesterday, all sorts of controversy, BBC servers in meltdown. I'm hoping for some peace and quiet today. First up: Birmingham v Aston Villa. Ah...