Bannan hoping to be happy traveller as Villa eye away win

By Dan Harrison

Barry Bannan hopes Villa can start replicating their home form on the road, beginning with a positive result at Fulham this afternoon.

Although the claret and blues are yet to be beaten at Villa Park this term, they have registered just one win on the road - a 2-1 success over Wolves.

And Bannan insists Craven Cottage is the perfect place for Villa to kick-start their campaign away from home.

He told AVTV: "If we can get the away form as good as the home form we will start climbing up that table.

"Hopefully starting at Fulham, we can get three points and begin from there. There is no doubt about it, they are a good team though.

"They are going to cause us problems but I think we have got enough to go there and get a good result.

"We need to start getting a few wins on the road so hopefully Fulham can be a place where we kick-start it."

It is a sentiment echoed by full-back Luke Young, who played in a terrific 2-0 away win at Fulham last season.

In beating the Cottagers in January, Villa became only the third side to beat the west London outfit on their home patch.

Young is confident of a repeat performance as long as Gerard Houllier's men make the most of their chances.

The defender said: "It is a very difficult place to go and win. We managed to do it last year but the year before we were beaten.

"So it is a difficult place to go and they are really strong and compact at home.

"I am sure we'll be working on trying to break teams down a little bit more and create a few more chances.

"I think you have just got to take your chances when you get them. Football is about chances and the majority of the time if you take them you are going to go on and win games.

"At the moment they are not falling for us but we'll keep working hard.

"The lads are solid - everyone is together and hopefully we'll push on to better results in the next few games."

AVTV subscribers can watch interviews with Barry Bannan and Luke Young now.

Fulham v Aston Villa