Aston Villa face Crystal Palace in the round of 16 of the Carabao Cup, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look for the encounter.
While our priorities this season undoubtedly lie with the Premier League and Champions League, this is a very real opportunity of ending our wait for silverware given the now short proximity to reaching the final.
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In turn, aside from the fact that we have a significantly stronger squad now and have quality to come in when we rotate, Emery will take this fixture seriously and respect the competition and opposition, and it’s hoped that leads to a positive outcome and successfully booking our spot in the next round.
Villa are expected to make multiple changes to the XI that started against Bournemouth at the weekend, while there could be a huge boost off the bench as we’re now back at full strength.
Kamara to start, Mings to feature off the bench?
With Emiliano Martinez expected to get the night off, Joe Gauci should come back into the side after starting against Wycombe Wanderers in the previous round. The Australian international has emerged as our No.2 with Robin Olsen out injured, and although the Swede is back, it’s hopefully Gauci who gets the nod to continue.
Kosta Nedeljkovic, Lamare Bogarde, Diego Carlos and Ian Maatsen could form our backline as we’re likely to take this chance to rest the likes of Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres, although it’s possible that Matty Cash is favoured at right-back instead to give us a little bit more experience and quality against Premier League opposition, with Oliver Glasner expected to go with a strong XI of his own.
Having recently returned to the matchday squad after his lengthy injury layoff, Tyrone Mings is on the verge of a comeback, but having had no minutes at senior level as of yet, the expectation is that he’ll be named amongst the substitutes again and will hopefully get the chance to come on in the latter stages and get back up to speed.
Ross Barkley should replace Youri Tielemans, with the latter featuring heavily so far this season and deserving of a rest, while Boubacar Kamara could slot in alongside him having steadily built up his minutes after returning from his own long-term injury.
The French midfielder’s influence will be fundamental for us as the season goes on, and so this will hopefully be an ideal fixture for him to get back his match fitness and sharpness to help return to his best in the coming weeks.
Emiliano Buendia was decisive in the last round and he’ll get another start to hopefully pull the strings in the final third with his technical quality and creativity, while Leon Bailey could get the nod as he tries to play his way into better form after a struggle to start the campaign.
Suspended at the weekend, Jaden Philogene will likely start on the opposite flank, while Jhon Duran will come in for Ollie Watkins to lead the Villa line and attempt to continue his excellent start to the year.
As noted above, Villa’s strength in depth now allows Emery to make significant changes without an apparent drop off in quality or experience on paper, but we’ll hopefully have the gameplan to win this cup clash and that in turn will be executed by the players coming in to ensure we secure our place in the draw for the next round.