Aston Villa host Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look for the encounter.
It’s a busy month for Villa given our Champions League campaign got underway in midweek, while we start our Carabao Cup run next Tuesday night at Wycombe Wanderers.
Combined with our Premier League aspirations, it’s a challenging period as we look to showcase our ability to compete on multiple fronts, and so Emery may well now start to consider rotation and resting key players.
That said, the expectation is that he’ll save most of that for the trip to Wycombe next week, and so we could potentially see a very familiar Villa XI that has been in place for most of the start of the season.
Change at right-back, will Bailey be fit to start?
Emiliano Martinez will continue in goal, while it’s likely that Lucas Digne, Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa will keep their places in our backline.
However, although Lamare Bogarde has done well in the circumstances as he’s stepped up despite his inexperience and filled in at right-back, he has had trouble at times in our last two outings, and so there could be a change in that position.
Matty Cash rejoined his teammates for group training this week and Emery only confirmed that Jaden Philogene was ruled out for the Wolves game, and so it remains to be seen if the Polish international is ready to come straight back into the Villa starting line-up after his hamstring injury, or if he’ll make the bench and gradually be reintegrated back into the side.
If he isn’t quite ready, Kosta Nedeljkovic will be itching for another opportunity, while there is of course the option of shifting Ezri Konsa across and starting Diego Carlos, just as we did in the second half at Young Boys earlier this week.
Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans are expected to remain in place in our midfield pivot given how impressive they’ve been thus far, while John McGinn, Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey will hope to keep their respective starting berths in support of Ollie Watkins in the final third.
Emery confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Friday that Watkins is fit and available despite concern over his health this week as he appeared to pick up another knock in Bern, but he’s seemingly now set to continue to lead the line.
Leon Bailey made his return to the matchday squad in midweek after his own hamstring injury setback, and so the Villa winger may well be pushing to get back into the team for this one too.
That said, it would come as no real surprise if Emery stuck with a familiar side as we build consistency, cohesion and fluidity, with the likes of Ian Maatsen, Ross Barkley, Emiliano Buendia and Jhon Duran all surely in line to start against Wycombe as we make wholesale changes to the line-up.
It will be an intriguing wait to see what Emery goes with, but such is the strength in depth at his disposal now, Villa will certainly put out a strong side regardless of personnel, and it’s hoped that it’s the ideal XI to help us register another league win.
Predicted Aston Villa XI vs Wolves: Martinez, Bogarde, Konsa, Pau, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; McGinn, Rogers, Ramsey; Watkins.
