Aston Villa take on Bologna in the Champions League on Tuesday night, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look for the encounter.
Villa go into the clash with the Serie A outfit off the back of consecutive wins in Europe, having seen off Young Boys and Bayern Munich to make an excellent start to the competition.
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Coupled with our impressive domestic form, it’s been a positive couple of months for Emery and the players, but if there’s one thing that we’ve taken from his press conferences and interviews, that won’t matter now as our full focus will be on Bologna and continuing to make progress.
It’s been a struggle for the Italian side so far this season as they’ve won one, drawn six and lost one in Serie A thus far, while they’re without a win in the Champions League having taken a point from their opening two games.
Nevertheless, they will still be a difficult challenge with the quality that they possess in their squad coupled with the fresh tactical battle that lies ahead, and so it’s hoped that Villa can keep our momentum going and take another important step towards advancing to the next stage.
Konsa, McGinn to return or will Emery stick with same XI?
Emiliano Martinez will continue between the posts, but there could be a potential change in his backline after Ezri Konsa returned from injury to make the bench for our win over Fulham this past weekend.
It remains to be seen if he’s fully recovered and fit enough to start this one, but with Diego Carlos improving and playing a key role in our last three games, there is a strong argument in favour of not tinkering with it and sticking with a winning formula after defeating Bayern and Fulham with the Brazilian centre-half in the XI.
Matty Cash, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne are likely to complete the defence, while our influential midfield duo consisting of Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana are expected to keep their places and continue to play fundamental roles in helping us maintain control of tempo and possession in the clash.
The Belgian pair are arguably even more impactful in Europe given the importance of being able to set the tone with possession, and so they’ll hopefully be our driving force in that deeper midfield pivot.
Morgan Rogers, Jacob Ramsey and Ollie Watkins were all excellent at the weekend and so it seems highly improbable that Emery will take any of that trio out of the starting line-up, but with Leon Bailey struggling for confidence and form, skipper John McGinn could be in line to return to the side after getting valuable minutes on Saturday following his own injury setback.
Having missed the win over Bayern, McGinn will undoubtedly be itching to be involved for this one and feature in the Champions League at Villa Park, and with the energy, tenacity and leadership that he brings, it could be a big night for him if he gets the nod ahead of Bailey and Jaden Philogene on that right side.
Ian Maatsen, Ross Barkley and Jhon Duran continue to knock on the door for a more prominent role, while Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara could both make the bench after the latter was named in the matchday squad against Fulham following a lengthy injury absence.
In turn, regardless of changes, it should be another strong Villa starting XI with options available on the bench to change the game if required, and so it’s hoped that we can make it three wins in three to continue to march on in Europe.
Depth.