Villa survive a late sending off to beat FK Příbram at The Hawthorns and reach the Intertoto semi final.

In the expectation of a low crowd and with works taking place at Villa Park, Villa make use of neighbour’s West Brom’s Hawthorns stadium for the visit of Příbram. For the second successive game Villa have a player sent off with Paul Merson following on from Mark Delaney, much to the chagrin of boss John Gregory. 

Belgian international forward Luc Nilis, 33, makes a goalscoring Villa debut of much promise after joining from PSV Eindhoven on a free transfer earlier in July 2000 to become the 745th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Paul Merson is sent off for the 1st time in a Villa shirt on his 73rd appearance (58 Starts) to make it W31 D20 L22, 10 Goals, 11 Assists, 4 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Villa concede an 89' Calamity James inspired goal to leave them trailing ahead of the home leg against Celta de Vigo in the Intertoto semi final.

Villa record a second successive Premier League draw to start the season unbeaten in two under John Gregory but sit in a lowly 16th place in the early table.

Luc Nilis scores one of the great Villa Park goals to open the scoring and make it 3 Appearances, W1 D1 L1 and 2 Goals so far in his impressive start to his Villa career.

Alan Wright contributes his 25th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 247th appearance (244 Starts) to make it W111 D62 L74, 4 Goals, 21 Assists and 14 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

George Boateng makes his 50th appearance in a Villa shirt (47 Starts) to make it W22 D16 L12, 3 Goals and 12 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Meanwhile, off the pitch all is not well with Gareth Southgate and Julian Joachim proving destabilising influences, demanding moves away from the club to destinations unknown.

Villa make it 2 goals and 2 points from a potential 9 as they fall 0-3 behind in just over half an hour to continue their poor start to the campaign under John Gregory. 

Villa sit 19th in the early Premier League table having finished 6th last season. 

Ian Taylor makes his 225th appearance in a Villa shirt (205 Starts) to make it W99 D56 L70, 32 Goals, 13 Assists, 44 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Steve Stone contributes his 10th goal involvement on his 52nd appearance in a Villa shirt (31 Starts) to make it W21 D15 L16, 4 Goals, 6 Assists and 3 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa win for the first time in four Premier League games this season to climb to 14th in the table under John Gregory.

Forward Luc Nilis, 33, makes his final appearance in a Villa shirt after just 5 games having suffered a sickening and career ending injury in the 7th minute of the game at Portman Road. Nilis who had impressed so greatly already retired with a record of W2 D1 L2 and 2 Goals.

In his short time with the club Nilis had shown skill and touch to add a new dimension to John Gregory’s Villa and his loss was felt keenly as those characteristics proved difficult to replace. 

Centre back Ugo Ehiogu, 27, makes his 303rd and final appearance in a Villa shirt (286 Starts) to make it W140 D72 L91, 15 Goals, 8 Assists, 39 Bookings and 2 Red Cards across his 9 years in the first team.

Ehiogu’s choice to move to mid-table also rans Middlesbrough raised eye-brows at the time and unsurprisingly his career was never to again reach the heights he had seen at Villa. 

Ehiogu’s premature departure was surrounded by innuendo but it is believed that he did not see eye to eye with Gregory and the player opted for a lucrative Middlesbrough contract as a way out with hopes that a move to another club of Villa’s stature would result. It didn’t. 

Although Villa received £8,000,000 in the deal, a handsome profit on the £40,000 they paid West Bromwich Albion for the then 19 year old, most fans’ preference would have been to have kept the man and foregone the money but the player’s head was turned by a squad full of disruptive influences from the likes of David James, Gareth Southgate, George Boateng, Alpay Özalan, Julian Joachim and David Ginola, all of whom would eventually move on to lesser clubs and careers.

Ehiogu’s agitation for a move stood in stark contrast to the behaviour of model professionals such as Dion Dublin, Gareth Barry, Alan Wright and Ian Taylor and illustrated just how haphazardly John Gregory had built a talented, but underperforming squad.

Dion Dublin secures his 25th win in a Villa shirt on his 63rd appearance (59 Starts) to make it W25 D17 L21, 28 Goals, 7 Assists and 5 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 1.80 games played so far in his Villa career.