Aston Villa travel to face Luton Town at Kenilworth Road in the Premier League on Saturday, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting XI could look.
After disappointment against Chelsea in the FA Cup and defeat at home vs Man Utd, Villa have bounced back well over the last fortnight with wins over Fulham and Nottingham Forest.
READ MORE: Crucial injury boost as Villa look to maintain important momentum
That in turn has solidified our spot in fourth place in the standings, albeit Emery and the players will be desperate to continue to extend the lead over the likes of Tottenham and Utd as we continue to target Champions League qualification for next season.
With Luton battling to avoid the drop this year, coupled with the quality in their side and the factor of playing at home under the lights, this promises to be a difficult assignment for Villa, and so it’s hoped that we can produce a big performance and put ourselves in a great position to return home with all three points.
Villa team news vs Luton: Pau, Konsa to return to squad…
“I will include them in the squad for tomorrow, but I don’t know if they are going to be available 100 per cent to play from the beginning,” Emery told the media, as per VillaTV. “I will decide tomorrow morning, speaking with them and how they feel for a very important match.
“Of course, it’s a very tough match, a lot of duels, a very demanding match.
“It’s a different problem [to the injury Pau suffered in December], he is progressively getting better and I will include him in the squad, but I don’t know if he will be available, without risk.”
Emery went on to add that Jhon Duran, Diego Carlos and long-term absentees Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia and Boubacar Kamara will all miss out.
Konsa to return, Pau unlikely to be risked?
Based on Emery’s comments above, there is a sense that Torres may not be risked for this encounter, as the last thing we need is for the influential Spanish centre-half to suffer a setback and have a prolonged spell on the sidelines with a hamstring issue continuing to trouble him.
In contrast, with Konsa returning to group training this week, he could be better placed to come back in, but again, it could be considered too much of a risk to start him immediately after his layoff, and so he may well have to settle for a place on the bench too.
Emiliano Martinez will start between the posts though, with Matty Cash at right-back and Alex Moreno likely to be on the opposite flank. Clement Lenglet will naturally be top of the list to come in if Torres isn’t fit enough to start, while Calum Chambers will likely be on standby if Konsa isn’t ready to start as Carlos is still out.
Emery may not want to change too much given our results in the last two games, and so Leon Bailey, John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Jacob Ramsey will be hopeful of keeping their respective places to form our midfield quartet, with Youri Tielemans continuing in an advanced role between the lines behind Ollie Watkins.
Naturally, the likes of Moussa Diaby, Nicolo Zaniolo, Morgan Rogers and others will be knocking on the door to get into the side and feature more prominently, but the rotation could come in midweek when we face Ajax in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night rather than this weekend.
With Villa winning consecutive league games and building momentum again, Emery could opt to stick with the winning formula as much as possible, and so barring one enforced change if Torres isn’t able to start, we will hopefully benefit from the balance and continuity of sticking with almost the same side that secured three points last time out.