James Milner came a cropper outside his house this week, slipping in the snow and injuring his hip, but on the pitch he can hardly put a foot wrong.
Another excellent goal from the midfield player put Aston Villa firmly on course for the Carling Cup final and underlined his claim to be the finest English player in the country on form. That is one for Fabio Capello, the England manager, to ponder, but it is little wonder that Martin O’Neill holds Milner in such high regard.
Showing typical tenacity and drive, the 24-year-old led the counter-attack from which he scored the only goal to leave Blackburn Rovers with a mountain to climb in the second leg next Wednesday. It was his fifth goal in his past 11 appearances and, according to the Villa manager, it was “a great goal from a great player”.
O’Neill said: “James has been playing splendidly. He has settled into central midfield as if he’s been playing there all his life. He always felt there were goals in his game and he’s really enjoying himself at the moment.
“He’s playing brilliantly, so he’s a brilliant player. Does playing great make a great player? No, I accept your point, but he is a great player.”
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Villa had dominated the opening period and could reasonably have been awarded two penalties.
Gabriel Agbonlahor was aghast at being booked for diving when he was brought down by Christopher Samba, and Pascal Chimbonda got away with what looked like a clear handball in first-half stoppage time. But Blackburn, struggling of late, rediscovered something of their form after the interval and were unfortunate to see Nikola Kalinic, their luckless £6 million forward, hit the post twice.
“I couldn’t stress more that I think the game is in the balance,” O’Neill said. “Blackburn are capable of coming to Villa Park and winning and we will have to be very strong again to win the game.
“But I also feel that we played splendidly tonight. We created a lot of chances and we were unable to put them all away, but I was delighted with the performance.”
O’Neill was disappointed by the booking of Agbonlahor, which followed a similarly harsh yellow card for Ashley Young in the defeat away to Arsenal last month, but he was entitled to be pleased by his team’s all-round performance.
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Villa displayed the right attitude from the first whistle, with Milner and Stiliyan Petrov quick to gain a firm foothold in midfield, though their impressive first-half performance was followed by some difficult times in the second half, when Blackburn’s improvement merited an equalising goal.
Blackburn’s problem, as they searched in vain for a first victory in nine matches, was that their fragile confidence had already been further eroded by Milner’s goal.
It was a classic from Villa’s point of view as the midfield player, carrying the ball forward on the counter- attack, switched it wide to Stewart Downing on the right and then raced into the penalty area to convert the resulting cross at the near post. But it was an ugly goal from where Sam Allardyce, the Blackburn manager, was sitting.
Just as they had allowed Micah Richards to surge through from the back for Manchester City on Monday, the Blackburn defence had allowed an opponent to run from one end of the pitch to the other and score.
Allardyce said that he and his players had “put things right” in the dressing room at half-time, which presumably involved a few home truths as well as a substitution, with Martin Olsson replacing Lars Jacobsen, allowing Chimbonda to move to right back.
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The change meant they carried far greater threat from the full-back positions, but it was a hanging cross from Morten Gamst Pedersen, nine minutes into the second half, that gave Blackburn their best chance to that point, with Kalinic rising highest but hitting the post with his header.
Kalinic was emerging as a central figure in the drama. Ten minutes later he struck the upright again, this time with a low first-time shot from Chimbonda’s cross, but between times he had been fortunate to escape punishment for planting his arm in the face of James Collins as they challenged for an aerial ball.
O’Neill looked furious with Mark Clattenburg, the referee, for failing to show a card, but, increasingly, it was a match played at breakneck pace — the type that has a referee wishing he had eyes in the back of his head.
In short, it was Milner’s kind of game, but, then again, they all seem to be Milner’s type of game these days.
As Blackburn threw caution to the wind in the closing stages, with Allardyce sending on Benni McCarthy in support of Kalinic, Villa needed to show even greater resolve. But, when they needed someone to win the ball in midfield or to retain it, Milner was always there.
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Blackburn Rovers (4-4-1-1): P Robinson — L Jacobsen (sub: M Olsson, 46min), C Samba, R Nelsen, P Chimbonda — M Salgado (sub: S Reid, 71), B Emerton, S N’Zonzi, M G Pedersen (sub: B McCarthy, 75) — D Dunn — N Kalinic. Substitutes not used: J Brown, P Jones, D Hoilett, F Di Santo. Booked: McCarthy.
Aston Villa (4-4-2): B Guzan — C Cu?llar, J Collins, R Dunne, S Warnock — S Downing, S Petrov, J Milner, A Young — E Heskey (sub: S Sidwell, 71), G Agbonlahor. Substitutes not used: B Friedel, L Young, H Beye, N Reo-Coker, F Delph, J Carew. Booked: Agbonlahor.
Referee: M Clattenburg.