Alan Hutton

official site wrote:

Alan Hutton is over the moon about his fresh Villa opportunity and has vowed to "grab it with both hands".

Hutton marked his pre-season resurgence with the winning goal in Tuesday night's 1-0 win over Walsall at the Banks's Stadium.

The Scottish full-back hasn't played a competitive game for Villa since a 1-1 draw against former club Tottenham in May 2012.

But he has been back in the fold during the pre-season campaign, turning in a string of impressive performances.

And Hutton - who has had loan spells at Nottingham Forest, Real Mallorca and Bolton since his last Villa appearance - says it is great to be involved again.

"I am over the moon - I never thought I'd be putting on a Villa strip again," said the 29-year-old.

"To be fair I thought those days were passed. I came in during pre-season and the manager said we would be starting from scratch again.

"He's given me the opportunity to come in and show my worth.

"To have that opportunity to come around again and try again was great for me. Hopefully I can grab it with both hands.

"It's a great feeling to be involved and hopefully I can pay the manager back with good performances.

"You want to train every day to play at the end of the week. It's just one of those things.

"Football is really up and down. Hopefully I can go back on the up now."

Hutton was pleased to bag a rare goal in Villa's penultimate friendly against the Saddlers.

"I don't normally get into those sort of positions," he added.

"I think it came off Gabby and happened to fall to me. I was in the right place at the right time and put it in.

"It was going everywhere. It just happened to fall at my feet. It was harder to miss. It was good to score."

Eastie wrote:

official site wrote:

"I don't normally get into those sort of positions," he added.

"I think it came off Gabby and happened to fall to me. I was in the right place at the right time and put it in.

"It was going everywhere. It just happened to fall at my feet. It was harder to miss. It was good to score."

Mr_Spadge wrote: Great professional attitude to behave like this after the way he's been treated.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in European Team of the Week after hat-tricks

The two superstars were joined by two unexpected names from the Premier League.
Dec 8, 2014 15:56

Hat-trick heroes Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were unsurprisingly named in Opta’s European Team of the Week, but they were joined by two Aston Villa defenders.

After Ronaldo put three goals past Celta Vigo on Saturday night, reaching 200 Liga goals in the process, Messi was not to be outdone just 24 hours later?

The Barcelona superstar grabbed a treble of his own in a 5-1 win over local rivals Espanyol.

Including friendlies, the first of his strikes on the night was his 400th for Barcelona – but who counts friendlies?

What was significant, though, was that it was his third hat-trick in four games.

Three of Messi’s team-mates also made Opta’s selection with Xavi, Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique all included for their role in the Catalan derby.

A Midlands derby also saw two unexpected names from the Premier League make the XI with Alan Hutton and Ciaran Clark representing Aston Villa.

Both scored in a derby win over Leicester City to justify their place alongside Alba and Pique in a rather bizarre-looking defence.

Mr_Spadge wrote:I really hope he turns in some great performances...  Great professional attitude to behave like this after the way he's been treated.  Not the best right back in the world, but hope he can be solid...

avfc85 wrote:Hutton from Zero to Hero either than I thought he was a scapegoat under AM's reign!