Aston Villa's Gabby Agbonlahor targets more success against Birmingham City
Apr 22 2010 by Lee Gibson, Birmingham Post
Gabby Agbonlahor will hope to further his reputation as the Second City’s West Midlands derby day specialist when Aston Villa renew rivalries with Birmingham City this weekend.
Agbonlahor has scored in all of his last six games against Villa’s local rivals with three goals against Blues, two against West Bromwich Albion and one against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Birmingham-born striker missed the claret and blues last local skirmish when he sat out the 2-2 Villa Park draw with Wolves in March with groin and foot injuries.
However, Agbonlahor, having recently chalked up his half century of career goals, is expected to be fit and raring to go on Sunday lunchtime when he aims to again become the scourge of Villa’s nearest neighbours.
The 23-year-old’s first goal in the fixture came when he headed in a late winner during Villa’s dramatic 2-1 victory over Blues at St Andrew’s in November 2007.
And Agbonlahor further endeared himself to the claret and blue half of the city when he scored the fifth and final goal in the 5-1 Villa Park rout two years ago.
Agbonlahor repeated his late match-winning heroics on enemy territory earlier this season when his last gasp header earned Villa a narrow 1-0 success.
The England hopeful has previously attributed his form in derbies to the vile chants opposing supporters sing about his estranged mother
“I’ve said before maybe it’s the song they keep singing,” said Agbonlahor.
“It was going again. I had to show them what I thought of them when I scored the goal. I’m going to have the same celebration for the local fans.
“The stick doesn’t really bother me. Every player gets stick. It makes no difference to any of the players. It is not really a big deal.
“The more they keep singing, the more I keep scoring. Let’s wait for the next derby.”
John Carew took over Agbonlahor’s mantle with a derby day double in last month’s draw against Wolves and has also edged in front to become Villa’s top scorer for the season.
Before last night’s trip to Hull City and ahead of Sunday’s quest for local supremacy, Carew was on 16 goals, nine of which have come in the Premier League, while Agbonlahor was one behind on 15 with 12 of them scored in the top flight.
Agbonlahor, who still harbours ambitions of gate-crashing England’s World Cup squad for South Africa this summer, took his Villa career tally to 50 with his headed goal in last week’s 2-2 draw against Everton.
