The Togolese Zidane, Mustapha Salifou, came on as a second half substitute today as Villa brushed aside Walsall at The Banks' Stadium.The Villa faithful gave the midfielder a fantastic reception on his first return to the first team line up since his trouble in Africa earlier in the year, where his team coach was shot repeatedly on route to the African Cup of Nations.
Andreas Weimann, Barry Bannan and Marc Albrighton all started the match tonight in a somewhat weakened line-up but the youngsters made up for that with performances that caught the eye. Youngster Weimann partnered John Carew up front and it was the big man that set him up after a mazy run down the right, ending with a diving header opportunistically taken into the corner of the net. Throughout the first half Bannan and Albrighton looked bright, linking well with Carew with the latter making some telling crosses that further boosted his chances of a Premier League start.
It took until the second half to get the second when an Albrighton cross was parried into the path of Weimann again who made no mistake from a few yards out. The youngster could have finished the game on a hat-trick but he was cruelly denied by the post after Albrighton burst into the box and cutted the ball back.
Walsall managed to get a goal back through the first touch of substitute Nicholls who converted a cross late on. The Villa team head out to the Algarve tomorrow, playing Feyenoord the day after in the Guadiana Cup, where they will also face Benfica in the deciding game on Saturday.
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