Aston Villa face Chelsea in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday night, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up looks for the encounter.
Villa defeated Middlesbrough previously to advance to this stage of the competition, but we face a difficult assignment at Stamford Bridge to keep our hopes of silverware, via the FA Cup, alive.
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The hosts have started to find form having won five of their last six games across all competitions, and so Emery will be fully aware of the threat that they pose, and the expectation was that the Villa boss would go with a strong XI.
As confirmed in his press conference on Thursday, Pau Torres, Lucas Digne, Jacob Ramsey and Jhon Duran were set to miss out due to injury, but with the depth available to the Spanish tactician, he’s been able to go with a side that is more than capable of getting the desired result to book our spot in the next round.
Emiliano Martinez starts in goal, but there is a change to the backline with Matty Cash coming in for Diego Carlos, allowing Ezri Konsa to shift back inside as a centre-half, with Clement Lenglet and Alex Moreno completing the defence.
There’s a key change in midfield too with Youri Tielemans replacing Leon Bailey, and he joins John McGinn, Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Luiz in forming our midfield quartet.
The Belgian international’s inclusion will hopefully help us control the game better given his technical ability and composure in possession, but it’s vital that we pair that with a more clinical performance to get the job done.
Moussa Diaby partners Ollie Watkins in the final third, while there is a youthful look to our bench with a number of our talented youngsters included in the matchday squad.
It’s hoped we’ll be in a position to give them minutes if we’re in control of proceedings, but Villa will have to be at their best in this one in order to secure the win.
Your Aston Villa team at Stamford Bridge! 👊 pic.twitter.com/eutOjJDpPO
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) January 26, 2024