Aston Villa face Celtic in the Champions League on Wednesday night, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look for the encounter.
After a disappointing defeat to Monaco last time out in Europe, Villa now go into our final league-stage game knowing that we must win in order to have any realistic chance of advancing automatically to the knockout phase with a top-eight finish.
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We must also hope that results elsewhere go our way, but Emery and the players will undoubtedly be fully focused on doing our job, and hoping we get a helping hand.
There was further frustration this past weekend after we dropped points at home against West Ham Utd in the Premier League, and so we have to raise our level in midweek if we are to kick-on in the second half of the campaign.
No Mings, two changes from Emery to Villa line-up
Pau Torres, Ross Barkley and Amadou Onana are set to miss out due to injury, and they are likely to be joined by Tyrone Mings after his setback at the weekend, albeit it’s not as serious as first feared.
That in turn leaves Emery short of options, particularly in defence, but he can continue to rely on Emiliano Martinez between the posts, with Matty Cash and Ezri Konsa forming half of our backline.
The Villa boss’s first big decision comes with who partners Konsa in the heart of the Villa defence, as he could go with Lucas Digne after he filled the void on Sunday, with Ian Maatsen coming in at left-back.
Conversely, he could show faith in Lamare Bogarde to step in. It’s a big game for the talented youngster to come in though, and so perhaps Emery will go with the more experienced and safer option, albeit it’s not Digne’s natural position and he didn’t look particularly comfortable this past weekend.
Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans should continue in the midfield pivot, but an out-of-form Leon Bailey may well drop out here after another underwhelming showing last time out.
With John McGinn back from injury, the Villa skipper could either be deployed through the middle or on the right side, interchanging with Morgan Rogers, while Jacob Ramsey is seemingly building some momentum after his previous injury blow and should get the nod on the left side.
A decision will once again be needed up front, as although Jhon Duran will be pushing for an opportunity, this is a crunch game for Villa and we’re arguably better off starting with Ollie Watkins leading the line, and having his Colombian teammate in reserve on the bench just in case we need a spark in the latter stages.
As always, we’ve got quality on the bench with individuals pushing for involvement, but this could be the way Emery goes. Agree with the Villa XI below, or what changes would you make?
