Even those Villa wing-backs are having an effect, with Alan Hutton getting down the right to deliver a cross to the empty Stoke box. Lots of industry from these teams, we're just missing a touch of quality.

John Motson
BBC Match of the Day commentator

Image source, PA

"It's the sort of game where you feel that the first goal, if there is one, could be very important."

Villa have got a foothold now, much better than that early wobble. Gestede and Sinclair have linked well, but a chase for the former Swansea man just fails. Jack Grealish, on the Villa bench, is chewing some gum rather glumly.

Charlie Adam! What an effort from inside his own half from a man who's got form for this sort of thing. Adam, who scored from the halfway line against Chelsea last season, wasn't even in the centre circle when he spotted Brad Guzan off his line. The effort was going towards the top corner, with the scrambling Guzan avoiding embarrassment with a leap and tip around the post.

Still end-to-end, a Stoke attack down the left thwarted by two sliding Villa defenders. Full-bloodied, pacy stuff. The crowd right into it too.

Pretty watchable game this, reasonably end to end. Arnautovic goes down in the Villa box after a nice ball from Bojan, but no one really expected Mike Jones to point to the spot. For students of the crowd, there was a wonderful shot of a Villa fan off his seat to give Arnautovic a piece of his mind.

And again an aerial ball causes a bit of confusion in the Stoke backline, only for Villa to fail to feed on the scraps. Would never have happened under Tony Pulis...

Villa finally get a hold of the ball and almost cause Stoke a few problems. Rudy Gestede flicks on to almost release Scott Sinclair, but Stoke scramble to avert the danger.

Image source, Getty Images

John Motson, on MOTD commentary, reckons Villa are playing with three centre-halves and wing-backs. He looks to be spot on. Either way, Stoke are finding oceans of space.

You know what, Stoke are all over Villa in the early going. A long ball from the back finds Marko Arnautovic on the Stoke left. He cuts in on to his right foot, but shoots over. 

The resulting corner came to nothing, but the movement of the Stoke front four looks likely to cause problems. Villa looking short of ideas going forward early on.

Early chance for Stoke, who perhaps should be ahead. Jon Walters' lovely flick puts through Mame Biram Diouf on the right, his shot blocked by a lunging Micah Richards. Villa opened up very easily.

Stoke are playing right to left as I look on, white shorts and stockings (always stockings, not socks). Lots of emtpy blue seats in the lowers stands at Villa Park.

We're under way at a pretty noisy Villa Park.

I tell you what, the tunnel at Villa Park is a vast old cavern. You could park a coach under there. As the players emerge, a huge banner goes over the Villa fans, as big as the penalty area. Where do those banners come from? Where do they go when they've been passed over the fans? Does someone sleep under it between matches?

The subs have emerged from the dressing room, making their way to the bench before the starting XIs come out. Peter Crouch signs an autograph for a fan on the front row. The teams are in the tunnel, Villa in their traditional claret, Stoke in their red and white.

Final Score's John Acres at Villa Park:"This is the view as I wait for the manager pre-match interviews for a worldwide audience. When Tim Sherwood arrived, he said I was a bit trendy for the BBC!"