Aston Villa face Chelsea in the Premier League this weekend, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look for another vital game.
Villa continue to close in on a top-four finish to secure Champions League qualification for next season, but the job isn’t yet done and a win on Saturday night would be a huge boost for our hopes as we continue to fend off Tottenham.
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With our Europa Conference League semi-final tie to follow next week, Emery will be desperate to avoid any further injury setbacks between now and the end of the season, and there will hopefully be positive news from the Villa boss in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
What we do know though is that Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia, Boubacar Kamara, Jacob Ramsey and Alex Moreno are out, while it remains to be seen if Nicolo Zaniolo has recovered from his injury blow to feature after missing the win over Bournemouth.
The players were given a short break after last weekend given our recent hectic schedule, and so it’s hoped that they’ve returned recharged and ready to put in another big shift against Mauricio Pochettino’s side, who despite their struggles and inconsistency, will still likely be a difficult proposition.
Luiz returns from suspension, Villa to make one change?
Emiliano Martinez will continue in goal, and it could be an unchanged backline in front of him with Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne set to get the nod.
That said, Diego Carlos has been so unfortunate to drop out of the starting XI given how impressive he was against Arsenal, and so the Brazilian centre-half will hope to force his way back into the side either for this game or most certainly in the first leg against Olympiacos next Thursday night.
Given how we’ve got a better balance with Cash at right-back though, and with Konsa undroppable, it remains to be seen if Emery decides to shuffle his pack this weekend or in Europe.
In midfield, Villa will be boosted by the return of Douglas Luiz from suspension, and it will be interesting to see how his presence changes the dynamic in that area of the pitch.
Youri Tielemans and John McGinn have been so impressive in their central midfield partnership and so it will be a shame to disrupt that, but time will tell if it’s the Belgian or Scottish international who is moved further up into an advanced role to support Ollie Watkins, and ideally it will be the former given the importance of McGinn’s defensive work in a deeper position.
Leon Bailey and Morgan Rogers will continue to provide quality and an attacking threat out wide, and so Villa are likely to go with just one change from the side that defeated Bournemouth last week, with Moussa Diaby making way for Luiz.
The big games have been coming thick and fast for some time now, but we really are at a critical point in our season, and three points this weekend will be huge in our bid to secure a top-four spot and then take that momentum into our European tie.