Aston Villa travel to Fulham on Saturday for our Premier League clash, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look.
The international break came at a good time for Villa as given our injury struggles, it was an opportunity to get everyone as healthy as possible for another challenging run in our season across multiple fronts.
READ MORE: Villa quartet provide Emery with major boost ahead of Fulham clash
Fortunately, Emery delivered positive news in his pre-match press conference on Friday as he confirmed a number of key players were back in group training this week and are likely to be involved in the matchday squad this weekend.
That contingent includes Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara, and it will undoubtedly be a real joy to see them back in the fold and providing the Villa boss with important competition and depth as well as alternative tactical solutions.
As far as the Villa starting XI goes though, we could go back to a familiar looking side that Emery showed faith with in the early stages of the season, provided all are indeed available for selection.
Konsa, Onana and Ramsey fit enough to start?
Emiliano Martinez will continue between the posts, while Matty Cash, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne will all be expected to start.
Time will tell if Ezri Konsa is fit enough to join them though, as after limping off in our goalless draw against Manchester United prior to the break with a hamstring injury, it’s unclear at this stage if he’s ready to start even though he was seen in group training on Friday.
Naturally, the hope is that he will be given the green light, as that would help restore arguably our best backline at the moment, or at least the quartet that Emery has preferred to go with so far this season.
Youri Tielemans will continue to pull the strings in midfield, and we could see his compatriot Amadou Onana return alongside him after being forced to sit out last time out with a knock of his own.
The Belgian international was also working with the rest of the group to end the week, and so it looks promising in terms of seeing that partnership restored in the heart of our midfield.
Leon Bailey will hopefully have used the break to get treatment and recover having been bothered by niggles to start the season as Emery has publicly conceded that the Jamaican winger has not been 100 percent, and we’ll hopefully see him get back to his best coming out of the break, and the same could be said for Jacob Ramsey after he was also sidelined earlier this month with a groin problem.
Once again, he was also working with the squad on Friday, and so he will hope to line up alongside Morgan Rogers and Bailey behind Ollie Watkins to form our attacking quartet and be the key to unlocking the Fulham defence.
The likes of Diego Carlos, Ian Maatsen, Ross Barkley and Jhon Duran will again be pushing to get a starting spot, and so it will be interesting to see if Emery opts to make changes for this one, or if he sticks with his preferred XI and tries to build some momentum and consistency again ahead of the Champions League in midweek.
It’s hoped we see Mings, Kamara and John McGinn get minutes if they’re fit enough to make the bench, but this promises to be a really difficult contest, and hopefully we’ll be at our best to secure all three points.