Aston Villa face a crunch encounter with Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look.
After making multiple changes in midweek for our Europa Conference League clash with Ajax in Amsterdam, the Villa boss is expected to go back to his strongest available XI this weekend.
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We’ll still be without long-term absentees Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia and Boubacar Kamara, while Jacob Ramsey faces a late fitness test to determine whether or not he’s able to feature in some capacity.
Diego Carlos returned to the bench on Thursday evening as he has now recovered from his injury setback, and so we’re gradually moving towards having as strong a squad at Emery’s disposal as possible.
With our second leg showdown with Ajax to come next week, having that strength in depth will be fundamental, and we’ll likely see changes for what promises to be a difficult and decisive contest with Spurs.
Pau Torres to return, hope of Jacob Ramsey boost
Emiliano Martinez will be expected to start in goal as he eyes another decisive performance, but there could be one change in his defence compared to the side that started at Luton Town last time out in the Premier League.
Having featured for 45 minutes in midweek as he gradually gets back to his peak condition and form, Pau Torres could come in for Clement Lenglet, with Alex Moreno, Ezri Konsa and Matty Cash completing the backline.
It’s possible that Lenglet will keep his place and Konsa is shifted to right-back, but we arguably have a better balance with the prior option in both phases of the game.
In midfield, skipper John McGinn is likely to shake off the knock that Emery revealed he suffered in the warm-up for the Ajax game, as the Villa boss duly noted in his pre-match press conference that the Scottish international would be available this weekend after coming on in the second half in the Dutch capital.
Douglas Luiz and Leon Bailey are certain starters alongside him in midfield, but time will tell if Ramsey passes a late fitness test to return after his absence in midweek due to another issue with his foot. Emery downplayed the severity of the problem though, and so even if he does miss out on Sunday, having Ramsey avoid another significant setback is great news.
If he isn’t available, Morgan Rogers is arguably best placed to replace him.
That in turn will allow Youri Tielemans to continue in a more advanced role in support of Ollie Watkins, and hopefully that team will be enough to get the better of Tottenham and ensure we take a big step towards Champions League qualification with a win.
It’s a massive fixture in context, as a win would move us eight points clear of Ange Postecoglu’s side with 10 games remaining this season, albeit our rivals also have a game in hand. From a Villa perspective though, all we can do is focus on ourselves and getting positive results, and this promises to be a major result if it goes our way.