Aston Villa v. Birmingham City Derby: The Clash of the Titans

If you live in the Midlands in England, this is the one sporting event for you.

In Birmingham, England, on April 25, the two greatest sporting teams in the city will do battle yet again in what can truly be described as this city's version of Clash of the Titans .

It's a fundamentally important Premier League encounter, not least for the home side Aston Villa, who host bitter rivals Birmingham City at Villa Park.

For the Villa, it's a match that can potentially define their season.

With fellow challengers for the fourth UEFA Champions League spot Tottenham Hotspur slipping up after a 3-1 defeat to Manchester United, and Manchester City unlikely to beat Arsenal at the Emirates, three points from this game is vital for Aston Villa.

If they win, they are most certainly well in with a shout of securing Champions League football next season.

If they were to do the unthinkable and lose against their one true enemy, then they face a threat of not even being involved any sort of European football for the 2010/11 campaign.

From the way this has been written, it would seem like this match is some sort of gladiator duel, and well, in many ways it is (metaphorically speaking).

For the fans, this match is everything; it's the mouthwatering tie one would look for first as soon as their club's fixture list for the season is released.

In the past there have been various accounts of crowd trouble, violence, and general football hooliganism as a result of these derby matches, most recently back in November 2007.

After that game in the 2007/08 season, it was reported that about 200 to 300 Birmingham City fans gathered in the street outside the away entrance (where Aston Villa fans were leaving) at the end of a derby match.

Inevitably, rocks and bottles were thrown, vehicles were damaged, 17 men were arrested and later released on bail, and overall it took nearly an hour for police to disperse the City fans and allow the Villa supporters to leave.

That's just one account of many that really epitomises the nature of this match.

For Birmingham City, this match might physically not mean much more than a boost up the Premier League table, but for all that goes with this match, a win for Birmingham is just as important to them as it is to Aston Villa.

This battle, this clash of the titans, is not about three points and the chance to say "we won!".

The Second City derby is about the pride and dominance you see in almost every colossal football derby in England from North London to Manchester to Sheffield.

This massive Premier League encounter is about Aston Villa and Birmingham City, the two teams who are desperately vying to claim the city of Birmingham, and the whole West Midlands county, as their own.

This is Villa v. City, and it doesn't come much bigger than this.