Aston Villa face Brighton on Sunday, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up for the Premier League encounter could look.
Villa know a win at the Amex Stadium and defeat for Tottenham at Liverpool later in the day could secure fourth place and a spot in the Champions League next season, and so it could be a momentous weekend for the club.
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Further, Emery and the players will be looking to not only bounce back from disappointment in midweek against Olympiacos, but also to produce a morale-boosting performance and win that we can take into the second leg of our Europa Conference League semi-final tie on Thursday night as we look to overturn a 4-2 deficit in Greece.
In turn, it’s a decisive week for us on both fronts, and so it’s hoped that we receive positive news heading into Sunday’s contest as we continue to deal with crucial absentees.
The main focus in terms of our starting line-up will be whether or not Emiliano Martinez has recovered from a hamstring injury to return to the side, with Robin Olsen deputising for him last time out.
“Tomorrow is the key day,” Emery told the media in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon. “In case he [Emi Martinez] will feel comfortable and without risk, he could be available.”
Given how important and influential the Argentine shot-stopper is, it would be a huge boost to see him return, while we will hopefully see a vital change in the backline too.
Pau Torres was rested against Olympiacos, but the Spanish centre-half is expected to be restored to the Villa XI for this one as we undoubtedly missed his presence in midweek.
With the heavy workload, Emery could also bring Diego Carlos back into the side for this game as the Brazilian has been unfortunate not to feature recently off the back of an impressive display in our win at Arsenal.
That in turn could shift Ezri Konsa across to right-back with Matty Cash rested, while Lucas Digne will continue on the opposite side, although it’s hoped that Alex Moreno provides a boost and returns to the bench at least.
In midfield, Leon Bailey, John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Morgan Rogers are likely to continue given our limited options, and a knock-on effect of that could be that Moussa Diaby continues to support Ollie Watkins in the final third.
Nicolo Zaniolo returned on Thursday from an injury setback of his own and so he’ll hope to feature more prominently in the next two games, while Youri Tielemans is another player who we’ll hopefully see back in contention for this one if he recovers in time.
Our injury luck has been horrendous this season as Emery has had to continue to operate with a depleted squad throughout. However, Villa are almost there in terms of Champions League qualification, and hopefully we do our job and things go our way elsewhere to make that dream a reality this weekend.
