Aston Villa 3 Middlesbrough 0 - League Div 1 -25th April 1981 (Full Match)

ON Friday April 24, 1981, Ron Saunders was asked for his thoughts about the fact that his Aston Villa side could clinch the championship the following day. If Villa won at home to Middlesbrough and Ipswich failed to beat Manchester City, Saunders’ men would be champs. A thrilling season was boiling up to a wonderful climax for the claret and blue side of Birmingham. It was a time of high excitement and life-dominating anticipation. Everybody was talking about it. Except the manager. “I don’t want to think about the league title about the moment,” Saunders told the media. And I certainly don’t want to talk about it.” Former Liverpool boss Bill Shankly was less reticent though. “I can already see in my mind the streets of Birmingham bedecked in claret and blue,” he wrote in the Mail, “and celebrations lasting well into the summer.” Shankly had no doubt that Villa, four points ahead at the top, would hold their nerve. First up came Middlesbrough at home before a final-day trip to Arsenal.