Aston Villa face Crystal Palace in the Premier League in midweek, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look for the encounter.
After following up a battling draw with Liverpool with a win over Chelsea this past week, Villa are starting to build some crucial momentum as we enter the latter stages of the campaign.
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While we still have work to do to close the gap on our rivals for a top-five finish, and subsequently a possible Champions League qualification spot, it’s imperative that we continue to focus on ourselves and try to build on our recent positive run.
It certainly promises to be a difficult challenge at Selhurst Park though, with the home side not only in decent form, but we have had our troubles in this particular fixture in recent years.
Nevertheless, despite our injury list with Pau Torres, Ross Barkley, Boubacar Kamara and Amadou Onana all ruled out, while Morgan Rogers and Tyrone Mings face a late fitness test, we still have a strong squad capable of getting all three points to continue our good form.
Four changes, Rashford to start?
Emiliano Martinez will continue in goal, but there could be more changes to the backline in front of him as we continue to deal with absences and tactical tweaks.
Having returned from his own injury setback at the weekend, Ezri Konsa is expected to start again, with Matty Cash likely to get the nod next to him at right-back, given we may need experience and defensive cover in a difficult test.
With doubts remaining over Mings ahead of kick-off, Axel Disasi is available again after he was ineligible to face his parent club Chelsea on Saturday, while Lucas Digne could replace Ian Maatsen at left-back for similar reasons to Cash’s inclusion on the opposite side.
Villa are severely limited in midfield still and so John McGinn and Youri Tielemans will continue in the pivot as they continue to play a pivotal role for us, but there could be at least one change ahead of them in our attack.
It seems the more sensible choice would be to not risk aggravating Rogers’ issue, as given the quick turnaround between games, it’s questionable if he’s had enough time to recover and is fully fit.
Coupled with the quality that we have on the bench in attacking areas, it would point to Marcus Rashford getting the nod to start instead, as the Villa loanee continues to impress whenever he’s involved.
Having contributed two assists for Marco Asensio in our win over Chelsea, expect the pair to both start again as we look to build on the quality that they’ve provided us thus far, with Donyell Malen perhaps completing the trident behind Ollie Watkins as we need an alternative option on the right side to maintain our balance with Rashford operating on the left flank.
Jacob Ramsey, Leon Bailey, Lamare Bogarde and Andres Garcia will be pushing for involvement, but with our FA Cup tie with Cardiff City on Friday night in mind, they could be in line to start that encounter when Emery opts to rotate.
It’s a difficult midweek assignment for Villa given the threat of the opposition and our hectic schedule, but we hopefully have the quality, experience and depth to deal with it and get the desired outcome.
