Aston Villa travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Sunday, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look for the clash.
Villa know that only a win will do this weekend to keep our Champions League qualification hopes alive, while we’ll need a favour elsewhere to help us break into the top-five in the standings on the last day of the season.
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Given our struggles against Man Utd over the years though, all of our focus will be on ensuring we do our part, and despite their issues this season and disappointment in midweek, Ruben Amorim and his players will want to deliver a performance for their fans ahead of the summer to lift spirits.
In turn, Villa will have to be at our very best to keep ourselves in contention, and Emery could consider a couple of changes to his starting XI to get the desired result.
Mings, Ramsey to come in as Villa seek vital three points
Emiliano Martinez will continue between the posts, but there could be a change to his backline with Tyrone Mings coming in to replace Pau Torres.
Given we’re on the road against a side with attacking talent, Mings can provide us with additional defensive solidity with his physicality and reading of the game, and although we’ll miss Pau’s ability to dictate tempo and build out from the back, this win will have to be built on a strong defensive performance.
While Lucas Digne will be pushing to get into the side too, we could see Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa and Ian Maatsen complete the defence to give us a good balance in that area of the pitch.
It’s hoped that there’s good news on Youri Tielemans ahead of the game after the Belgian international has been forced to miss our last two games with an injury, but in the event that he hasn’t recovered in time to start, Boubacar Kamara and Amadou Onana will be expected to continue in our deeper midfield pivot.
That duo will be crucial in giving us control and possession throughout the encounter, and so we’ll need a big shift from the pair in both phases of the game to get a foothold.
Emery confirmed on Friday that Tielemans had resumed group training, but time will tell how big a role he is able to play this weekend after his layoff.
Morgan Rogers and John McGinn should continue as part of our attacking trident with Ollie Watkins continuing to lead the line, but back from his suspension, Jacob Ramsey will hope to displace Marco Asensio and take up his spot on the left side.
With his ability to carry the ball with pace, go direct and find pockets of space to add rhythm and speed to our play in the attacking third, Ramsey could be a pivotal presence for us from an offensive perspective to go with his work he puts in on the defensive side too.
Asensio, Leon Bailey, Donyell Malen and Ross Barkley will all be pushing to get into the Villa XI, but the line-up below arguably gives us the best balance and quality to return home with all three points.
Agree with the Villa XI below, or would you make changes?
