Aston Villa face a crunch Premier League encounter with Tottenham on Sunday, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up looks.
After three consecutive league wins, we’ve moved five points clear of our rivals as we look to cement our spot in fourth place, and so although Spurs have a game in hand, a win here and an eight-point advantage would be huge.
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Long-term absentees Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia and Boubacar Kamara all remain sidelined, while Jacob Ramsey faced a late fitness test after missing our draw at Ajax in midweek in the Europa Conference League.
Emery did deliver more positive news on Pau Torres and John McGinn as he confirmed both would be available this weekend, and so the expectation was that we’d be as close to full strength as possible for two huge games in our season in the next few days.
As confirmed in the club’s tweet below, Ramsey hasn’t made it as he misses out with that injury, while there are two changes to the side that started at Luton last time out in the Premier League.
In come Lucas Digne and Pau Torres for Alex Moreno and Ramsey, with Ezri Konsa seemingly shifting across to right-back with Matty Cash playing ahead of him in a more advanced role.
It’s a system and personnel that we’ve used previously with good results, and Emery has perhaps seen something he likes from it that will hopefully give us an advantage to come out on top.
Emi Martinez continues in goal with Konsa, Clement Lenglet, Pau and Digne in front of him in his backline, while Cash, John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Leon Bailey form our midfield as the Jamaican winger switches sides for this one.
Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins will continue to lead the way in the final third, and so it’s hoped that we’ve got the right balance and structure to put ourselves in a position to win the game.
As for the bench, it’s a strong one. Jhon Duran returns after his injury layoff, while we have the likes of Diego Carlos, Moussa Diaby, Nicolo Zaniolo and Morgan Rogers in reserve to come in if needed as we look to secure a vital result which could have a major knock-on effect for the remainder of the campaign.
Your Super Sunday Aston Villa team! 👊 pic.twitter.com/MrqpDcKp4i
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 10, 2024
