Aston Villa travel to face Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Sunday, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look at the City Ground.
With seven wins from our opening 10 games of the league campaign coupled with consecutive victories in Europe to bounce back after defeat in our opener, we’re continuing to move in the right direction this season.
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As ever though, Emery is never content with the progress we’ve made to date, as he continues to demand more from his players to keep raising our level and to sustain our impressive run.
It won’t be easy against Forest despite their poor recent form as they’ll be desperate to move away from the relegation zone and avoid being dragged into an early battle at the wrong end of the standings, but with the quality, confidence and belief in the side, it’s hoped we’ll secure all three points and return home with another victory.
Villa have been consistent with the starting XI in the Premier League, with Emery finding a winning formula and returning to that in our win over Luton Town last weekend.
However, given we’re back on the road for this one, could the Villa boss see something different and believe he needs to tweak it to get the better of our next opponents?
Villa to go unchanged or Diego Carlos to start in defensive tweak?
Fitness and injuries permitting, there is a strong argument in favour of Villa going with the same XI. Why change a winning team? Given his extensive and meticulous analysis and preparation to come up with a winning gameplan though, it’s unlikely that’s an ethos Emery lives by as he’ll put out a side he feels is best positioned to get three points for the next specific game.
In turn, we’ve seen the Spanish tactician go with three centre-halves in some away games this season, and so Diego Carlos may well come into the XI in place of Nicolo Zaniolo.
That would see Ezri Konsa shift across to right-back, with Carlos partnering Pau Torres in the middle, thus giving us the ability to switch to a back-three in possession and build out from the back with that added defensively solidity and structure.
A knock-on effect of that would be Matty Cash moving into a more advanced role on the right side, with John McGinn switching to the left flank.
It’s the same set-up that Emery has opted to go with in away trips to Burnley and Wolves already this season, and perhaps he feels as though it gives us a better balance on the road to keep things tight defensively, and set a foundation for our attacking players to go out and win the game. With four points from those two outings, it seems to work.
Time will tell what the Villa boss goes with, and there could be a welcome boost of seeing Alex Moreno back on the bench after he rejoined group training this week.
It may be a little early for the Spaniard, but given the workload that Lucas Digne has had so far in this campaign, albeit he has impressed throughout, it’s vital we get Moreno back in the mix and rotate moving forward.
There will also be interest in whether or not Jhon Duran is named among the substitutes having missed another game last weekend due to a toe infection, and we could do with having that different dynamic up top available in case it’s needed.
Predicted Aston Villa XI vs Nottingham Forest: Martinez; Konsa, Diego Carlos, Pau, Digne; Cash, Kamara, Douglas Luiz, McGinn; Diaby, Watkins.
Any changes to the XI? Should Villa stick with the same side as last weekend?
