Aston Villa face West Ham Utd in the Premier League on Sunday, and Unai Emery has named his starting line-up.
Villa will be looking to bounce back after a disappointing defeat to Monaco in the Champions League in midweek, while Emery perhaps has our upcoming encounter with Celtic to consider in terms of his selections.
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As per the Villa boss in his pre-match press conference, Pau Torres, Ross Barkley and Amadou Onana were all ruled out due to injury, but there was hope that skipper John McGinn was back in contention after resuming group training.
With that clash with Celtic in mind, there was an intriguing wait to see if Emery opted to rotate and rest certain individuals, and as per the club’s post below, he has decided to make just one change with Jacob Ramsey replacing Emiliano Buendia on the left side of our attacking trident.
Meanwhile, there is an important boost on the bench as McGinn returns to the matchday squad, while January signings Andres Garcia and Donyell Malen will look to make their respective debuts.
There are some notable absentees though with Joe Gauci and Kosta Nedeljkovic not included in the squad, and with speculation over their futures amid talk of loan exits this month, it’s a possible hint that they’re on their way out next week on a temporary basis.
Nevertheless, it’s a strong Villa XI and bench once again, and it’s hoped that we can deliver a solid defensive performance which we can ultimately build on and go out and win the game, as we’ve had a frustrating habit of conceding poor early goals which put us in a hole, and scoring first could be crucial in this game given West Ham’s injury troubles and weakened bench.
There is usually a good balance to this Villa line-up with Ramsey back on the left side though, and it’s hoped he adds an important dynamic while Leon Bailey puts in a big shift on the opposite flank to give us a direct threat and width to stretch the pitch and open up space for others exploit in the middle.
Your Villa starting XI this afternoon 💪 #AVLWHU pic.twitter.com/qflyxGzvLg
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) January 26, 2025
How bad has Bailey got to be before he’s dropped?