Aston Villa

2009–10 season
Chairman	Randy Lerner
Manager	Martin O'Neill
Premier League	6th
FA Cup	Semi-finals
League Cup	Runners-up
UEFA Europa League	Play-off round
Top goalscorer	League: Gabriel Agbonlahor (13) All: John Carew (17)
Highest home attendance	42,788 vs Liverpool (29 December 2009), Manchester United (10 February 2010), Birmingham City (25 April 2010)
Lowest home attendance	22,527 vs Cardiff City (23 September 2009)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
←  2008–09 2010–11 →

Second City Derby

54--36--28

←  2007–08 2010–11 →

The 2009–10 Premier League season was Aston Villa's 135th season in English football. It was the club's 99th season in the top-flight and their 22nd consecutive season in the top flight of English football, the Premier League. They were managed by Martin O'Neill – in his fourth season since replacing David O'Leary. The 2009–10 season was Villa's second consecutive spell in European competition for the club, and the first in the newly formatted UEFA Europa League.

This term marked the first for the club without long-term player and former captain Gareth Barry following his £12million move to Manchester City on 2 June 2009. Barry had been at the club since 1997.

The Birmingham Derby made a return to the Premier League after local rivals Birmingham City were promoted to the top tier. Villa won the first of two fixtures 1–0 at St Andrew's on 13 September 2009 with Gabriel Agbonlahor scoring the winning goal. Villa also won the return fixture at Villa Park 1–0 on 25 April 2010, thanks to a James Milner penalty. Villa also played games against newly promoted Wolves from nearby Wolverhampton, resulting in a 1–1 draw at Molineux and a 2–2 draw at Villa Park.

The club progressed to the final of the League Cup during this season, eliminating Cardiff City, Sunderland, Portsmouth and Blackburn Rovers along the way. However, Aston Villa were beaten 2–1 by Manchester United in the final at Wembley Stadium on 28 February 2010. Villa's other domestic cup venture also took the club to Wembley in the FA Cup, where they were defeated 3–0 by Chelsea in the semi-final. Aston Villa finished 6th in the Premier League for the 3rd year in a row, with 2 points more than previous season, they also qualified for the Europa League for the 3rd year running.

Kit

Kit Supplier	Sponsor
Nike	Acorns*

*Villa passed up sponsorship for the 2008-09 season and instead displayed the children's hospice charity, Acorns.

Transfers

Transferred in

Date	Pos	Player	From	Fee
20 June 2009	AM	Samir Carruthers	Arsenal	Free transfer
16 July 2009	LM	Stewart Downing	Middlesbrough	£12,000,000
4 August 2009	CM	Fabian Delph	Leeds United	£6,000,000
7 August 2009	RB	Habib Beye	Newcastle United	£2,500,000
13 August 2009	GK	Andy Marshall	Coventry City	Free transfer
27 August 2009	LB	Stephen Warnock	Blackburn Rovers	£7,000,000
1 September 2009	CB	James Collins	West Ham United	£5,000,000
1 September 2009	CB	Richard Dunne	Manchester City	£6,000,000
				£38,500,000

  Record (equal)

Loaned in

Date	Pos	Player	From	Loan End

Transferred out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Fee
1 July 2009	CM	Gareth Barry	Manchester City	£12,000,000
1 July 2009	GK	Stuart Taylor	Manchester City	Free transfer
1 July 2009	CB	Martin Laursen	Retired	—
21 July 2009	CF	Sam Williams	Yeovil Town	Free transfer
25 July 2009	CB	Zat Knight	Bolton Wanderers	£4,000,000
26 January 2010	CM	Craig Gardner	Birmingham City	£3,000,000
				£19,600,000

Loaned out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Loan End
5 August 2009	GK	David Bevan	Ilkeston Town	5 September 2009
18 September 2009	CB	Shane Lowry	Plymouth Argyle	1 January 2010
26 September 2009	CF	Marlon Harewood	Newcastle United	31 December 2009
26 October 2009	CB	Nathan Baker	Lincoln City	1 January 2010
26 October 2009	CF	James Collins	Darlington	22 January 2010
26 October 2009	RB	Eric Lichaj	Lincoln City	1 January 2010
7 November 2009	CM	Isaiah Osbourne	Middlesbrough	5 January 2010
19 November 2009	CM	Jonathan Hogg	Darlington	2 January 2010
24 November 2009	LB	Nicky Shorey	Nottingham Forest	26 January 2010
26 November 2009	CM	Barry Bannan	Blackpool	31 May 2010
26 November 2009	CM	Chris Herd	Lincoln City	26 December 2009
5 December 2009	GK	David Bevan	Solihull Moors	5 January 2010
30 January 2010	CB	Shane Lowry	Leeds United	31 May 2010
1 February 2010	LB	Nicky Shorey	Fulham	31 May 2010
26 March 2010	RB	Eric Lichaj	Leyton Orient	31 May 2010

Overall transfer activity

First team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   USA Brad Friedel 2 DF   ENG Luke Young 3 DF   NED Wilfred Bouma 4 MF   ENG Steve Sidwell 5 DF   IRL Richard Dunne 6 MF   ENG Stewart Downing 7 MF   ENG Ashley Young 8 MF   ENG James Milner 10 FW   NOR John Carew 11 FW   ENG Gabriel Agbonlahor 12 MF   ENG Marc Albrighton 14 FW   ENG Nathan Delfouneso 15 DF   ENG Curtis Davies 16 MF   ENG Fabian Delph

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW   ENG Emile Heskey 19 MF   BUL Stiliyan Petrov ( captain) 20 MF   ENG Nigel Reo-Coker 21 DF   ENG Nicky Shorey 22 GK   USA Brad Guzan 23 DF   SEN Habib Beye 24 DF   ESP Carlos Cuéllar 25 DF   ENG Stephen Warnock 26 MF   ENG Craig Gardner 29 DF   WAL James Collins 33 GK   ENG Andy Marshall 45 MF   AUS Shane Lowry 47 DF   ENG Ciaran Clark

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 9 FW   ENG Marlon Harewood (on loan to Newcastle United) 21 DF   ENG Nicky Shorey (on loan to Nottingham Forest and Fulham) 26 MF   ENG Craig Gardner (to Birmingham City) 27 MF   ENG Isaiah Osbourne (on loan to Middlesbrough) 44 DF   USA Eric Lichaj (on loan to Lincoln City and Leyton Orient)

No. Pos. Nation Player 45 MF   AUS Shane Lowry (on loan to Plymouth and Leeds United) 46 MF   SCO Barry Bannan (on loan to Blackpool) 48 DF   ENG Nathan Baker (on loan to Lincoln City) 49 MF   AUS Chris Herd (on loan to Lincoln City) 50 MF   ENG Jonathan Hogg (on loan to Darlington)

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 9 FW   ENG Marlon Harewood 17 MF   TOG Moustapha Salifou 27 MF   ENG Isaiah Osbourne 42 FW   AUT Andreas Weimann 43 GK   ENG Elliott Parish

No. Pos. Nation Player 44 DF   USA Eric Lichaj 46 MF   SCO Barry Bannan 48 DF   ENG Nathan Baker 49 MF   AUS Chris Herd 50 MF   ENG Jonathan Hogg

Kit changes

The club once again dismissed sponsorship payments to allow Acorns as a charitable sponsor. A new away kit was unveiled on 24 May 2009 and inspired by the England national football team. It features a white and gray halved style with pinstripes and a navy accent, intended to pay tribute to the 67 Villa players that have appeared for the country while at the club. ^[1] The blue and black away kit of 2008–09 also became this season's third kit. ^[2] The new home kit was unveiled the day before the first clash of the Peace Cup 2009, which was against Málaga on Saturday 25 July. ^[3]

Premier League

Final league position

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
4	Tottenham Hotspur	38	21	7	10	67	41	+26	70	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
5	Manchester City	38	18	13	7	73	45	+28	67	Qualification for the Europa League play-off round [a]
6	Aston Villa	38	17	13	8	52	39	+13	64
7	Liverpool	38	18	9	11	61	35	+26	63	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round [b]
8	Everton	38	16	13	9	60	49	+11	61

Results

Results by matchday

Cup matches

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
02/01/2010	R3	Blackburn Rovers	H	3–1	25,453	Delfouneso, Cuéllar, Carew ( pen.)
23 January 2010	R4	Brighton and Hove Albion	H	3–2	39,725	Delfouneso, A. Young, Delph
14 February 2010	R5	Crystal Palace	A	2–2	20,486	Collins, Petrov
24 February 2010	R5 (R)	Crystal Palace	H	3–1	31,874	Agbonlahor, Carew ( 2 pen.)
07/03/2010	R6	Reading	A	4–2	23,175	A. Young, Carew ( 3, 1 pen.)
10/04/2010	SF	Chelsea	N	0–3	85,472

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
23 September 2009	R3	Cardiff City	H	1–0	22,527	Agbonlahor
27 October 2009	R4	Sunderland	A	0–0	27,666	(Pens: Carew, Collins, A. Young)
0–0 after extra time – Aston Villa won 3–1 on penalties
01/12/2009	QF	Portsmouth	A	4–2	17,034	Milner, Heskey, Downing, A. Young
14 January 2010 [4]	SF (1)	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–0	18,595	Milner
20 January 2010	SF (2)	Blackburn Rovers	H	6–4	40,406	Warnock, Milner ( pen.), Nzonzi ( o.g.), Agbonlahor, Heskey, A. Young
Aston Villa won 7–4 on aggregate
28 February 2010	F	Manchester United	N	1–2	88,596	Milner ( pen.)

UEFA Europa League

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
20 August 2009	Play-off Round (1)	Rapid Vienna	A	0–1	17,600
27 August 2009	Play-off Round (2)	Rapid Vienna	H	2–1	22,563	Milner ( pen.), Carew
2–2 on aggregate; Rapid Vienna won on away goals

Friendly matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
18 July 2009	Peterborough United	A	3–0		Weimann, Davies, Sidwell
21 July 2009	Colchester United	A	2–2		Sidwell, McGurk
04/08/2009	Oxford United	A	0–2	12,000
08/08/2009	Fiorentina	H	1–0	22,915		Heskey

Peace Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
25 July 2009	Group C	Málaga	A	0–1	4,000
29 July 2009	Group C	Atlante	N	3–1	1,000		Albrighton, Carew, A. Young
31 July 2009	Semi-Final	Porto	N	2–1	26,000		Heskey, Sidwell
02/08/2009	Final	Juventus	N	0–0		(Pens: Bannan, Lowry, A. Young, Cuéllar)
0–0 after extra time – Aston Villa won 4–3 on penalties

Goalscorers

Name	Premier League	FA Cup	League Cup	Europa League	Total
John Carew	10	6		1	17
Gabriel Agbonlahor	13	1	2		16
James Milner	7		4	1	12
Ashley Young	5	2	2		9
Emile Heskey	3		2		5
Richard Dunne	3				3
Carlos Cuéllar	2	1			3
Stewart Downing	2		1		3
Nathan Delfouneso	1	2			3
James Collins	1	1			2
Curtis Davies	1				1
Fabian Delph		1			1
Stiliyan Petrov		1			1
Stephen Warnock			1		1
Opposition own goals	4		1		5
Total Goals	52	15	13	2	82

Appearances

Name	League	FA Cup	League Cup	Europe	Start	Sub.	Total
Ashley Young	37	6	5	2	50	0	50
James Milner	36	5	6	2	48	1	49
Carlos Cuéllar	38	4	6	2	48	0	48
Stilyan Petrov	38	3	6	1	47	0	48
Gabriel Agbonlahor	36	2	6	2	43	3	46
Richard Dunne	35	4	5	0	44	0	44
Brad Friedel	38	3	1	0	42	0	42
John Carew	33	5	3	1	27	15	42
Emile Heskey	31	4	5	2	26	16	42
Stephen Warnock	31	6	5	0	42	0	42
James Collins	30	5	5	0	39	1	40
Stewart Downing	23	6	4	0	33	2	35
Steve Sidwell	25	4	3	1	14	19	33
Luke Young	16	3	1	0	18	2	20
Fabian Delph	8	4	2	1	10	5	15
Nigel Reo-Coker	10	1	1	1	9	4	13
Nathan Delfouneso	9	3	1	0	2	11	13
Habib Beye	6	2	1	2	10	1	11
Brad Guzan	0	3	5	2	10	0	10
Marc Albrighton	3	1	1	1	1	5	6
Nicky Shorey	3	0	1	2	6	0	6
Curtis Davies	2	1	0	2	4	1	5
Craig Gardner	1	0	1	1	2	1	3
Shane Lowry	0	1	0	2	0	3	3
Ciaran Clark	1	0	0	0	1	0	1

See also

• 2009–10 in English football
• List of Aston Villa F.C. seasons

References