London - Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry confirmed this week that he will not be leaving the club, and his first game after the announcement sees him face the club he was so close to joining: Liverpool. The Barry non-transfer was one of the most protracted sagas of the summer, with the player seemingly desperate to leave.
Villa haggled hard over the price, though, and in the end Liverpool failed to match their valuation - although just who was responsible for that remains shrouded in the mists of Anfield's board-room politics.
"Gareth wants to concentrate on playing on the best of his ability for Aston Villa, and we hope this draws a line under the matter," said his agent Alex Black.
Manager Martin O'Neill was full of praise for the midfielder's attitude.
"I think Gareth has played four games in quick succession - with the one for England," he said.
"Four in 12 days after a stop-start pre-season, which hasn't helped him.
"He will have better days for us than on Saturday at Stoke with a bit of luck but Saturday might just have been a culmination of the four games in quick succession, the lack of any steady pre-season, and all of those things."
Villa went down 3-2 to the newly-promoted club, rather undoing the positive impression left by their 4-2 victory over Manchester City on the opening day.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have won both of their league games so far, and reached the group stage of the Champions League, without ever looking particularly convincing.
They will be without midfielder Steven Gerrard, who has had surgery on his groin.
The only other team with a 100 per cent record, Chelsea, also play on Sunday, facing a Tottenham side who began the season with high hopes, but who have lost both matches so far.
The other Sunday fixture sees two sides who bounced back from opening day defeats with victory in their second match meet as Manchester City travel to the Stadium of Light to take on Sunderland.
Pick of the Saturday games is the visit of Newcastle to an Arsenal side who seemed to have rediscovered some cohesion in Wednesday's 4-0 Champions League victory over FC Twente, while Hull City will be looking to extend their impressive start to their debut Premier League season at home to Wigan.
