Aston Villa host Nottingham Forest on Saturday as we look to continue our impressive form in our push to compete for a European qualification spot.
Villa have won five of our last six Premier League games, conceding just two goals while scoring 11, and that run has resulted in us moving up to seventh place in the table as things stand.
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Having put ourselves in an excellent position now, the minimum objective for Unai Emery and his squad will be to secure a top-half finish this season, but as we’ve continued to climb the standings, talk of Europe has grown as we hope to extend our strong form between now and the end of the campaign.
Given the quality of our rivals in that battle though coupled with many of them still having games in-hand on us, it will be undoubtedly be difficult. However, our focus will remain on ourselves and the next match, and that means preparing as best as possible for the challenge that Steve Cooper’s side will present.
Young to rest, Traore earns starting berth?
It’s a big ask of Ashley Young to manage three games in a week, and as we saw against Leicester City last time out, he struggled at times with Harvey Barnes. With that in mind, Forest may well target that side of our defence as a possible vulnerability.
That said, he did improve in the second half and will have had more recovery time for this one. If he’s deemed to be in good enough condition to start by Emery and the medical staff, then there is absolutely no reason to change a winning side and we’d arguably rather the 37-year-old start and be replaced if necessary in the second half.
However, if the decision is made to rest him, that could open the door for Calum Chambers to come in at right-back, with Matty Cash expected to remain sidelined by injury this weekend.
Emiliano Martinez, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings and Alex Moreno will all likely continue, and much of the rest of the Villa XI will surely be unchanged as we continue to show consistency and improvement with the players currently in the team.
Jacob Ramsey, John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Emiliano Buendia are all continuing to impress and play influential roles in our winning run, while there is little doubt that Ollie Watkins will continue to lead the line as long as he’s still fully fit.
As per BirminghamLive, Emery didn’t sound too optimistic on Boubacar Kamara’s condition when speaking after our latest win, responding to a question on the Frenchman’s availability for Saturday with: “I don’t know, sadly. I don’t know.”
There could be one change in the final third though, and that’s Leon Bailey dropping out with midweek hero Bertrand Traore potentially rewarded with a start in his place.
Bailey is struggling for both form and confidence at the moment, and he was quiet and ineffective again at the King Power Stadium as he couldn’t provide that crucial attacking spark needed from him with his technical quality, speed and eye for goal.
Coupled with the impact made by Traore off the bench and his potential to have a bigger influence on our overall play over the course of 90 minutes, he may well get a shot at impressing Emery further from the start in this one.
That said, Emery evidently values Bailey highly given how involved he has been since he arrived, and so time will tell if that’s a tweak in personnel that he opts for, or if he is pleased with how the side as a unit played on Tuesday night and if they will give us the most competitive chance of securing three more important points.
It’s imperative we keep our run going this weekend, but with Forest scrapping for points in their bid to avoid relegation this season, it’s going to be a difficult task for us and we need to be at our best again regardless of who starts.
Predicted Aston Villa XI vs Nottingham Forest: Martinez; A. Young, Konsa, Mings, Alex Moreno; J.Ramsey, McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Buendia; Traore, Watkins.
That’s probably the team that I would pick but maybe Carlos will be involved and I wouldn’t bet on Bailey not starting.