Given may pay for errors

Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert admits he has a big decision this weekend to decide whether to persevere with former Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given after his goal-costing error against Everton last weekend.

Brad Guzan was given an opportunity in the Capital One Cup win over Tranmere in midweek when he kept a clean sheet.

Given, who has retired from international duty, could now find himself out of favour.

Lambert said: “When a keeper makes a mistake, it gets really highlighted. Outfield players can make mistakes left right and centre.

“It is not something that has blighted my vision of how good a keeper Shay is.

“Brad did fine the other night. I’ll decide tomorrow (who is playing).”

While Given could be out, another Irishman may bef drafted in. Defender Ciaran Clark will return after serving a one-match suspension. Clark was ruled out of the Tranmere clash after being red-carded against Everton last weekend.

Meanwhile, Newcastle boss Alan Pardew insists he is happy to tackle the first half of the season with the players he already has.

Pardew has spent much of the summer hoping against hope that the likes of Fabricio Coloccini, Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye and Demba remained within his grasp heading into September after concerted speculation that one or more of them could be sold.

At the same time, the Magpies renowned recruitment policy, which dictates that they will not exceed their valuation of a player’s worth, has seen them land former Ajax midfielder Vurnon Anita as well as youngsters Curtis Good, Gael Bigirimana and Romain Amalfitano, but miss out on Andy Carroll, Mathieu Debuchy, Douglas and Luuk de Jong.

Pardew is content, however. He said: “We have got some great players here and I have kept them intact, and that was my main priority this summer.