Aston Villa travel to face Wycombe Wanderers in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look for the encounter.
With Premier League and Champions League schedules to consider, the Villa boss is expected to make significant changes to his starting XI in order to give some of his key players a rest.
READ MORE: What is Villa’s best option in key position as Emery utilises various solutions?
Given our strength in depth now though, there is plenty of quality and experience available to come into the side as replacements, and while Emery conceded that his priority list does ultimately end with this competition, he is more than aware of the desire for Villa to end our wait for silverware this year too.
In turn, expect the Basque coach to name a strong Villa side for this cup clash, as we’ll undoubtedly need to be switched on and perform at a high level to ensure that we don’t slip up and make an early exit.
10 potential changes to Villa XI vs Wycombe…
Emery may well want to keep some consistency in the side to avoid losing our rhythm and cohesion, but the risk of injury surely outweighs that factor and we’ll see an almost entirely different Villa line-up.
Joe Gauci is likely to come in for Emiliano Martinez in between the posts, while our backline could consist of Kosta Nedeljkovic, Diego Carlos, Sil Swinkels and Ian Maatsen.
It will be a good opportunity for our full-backs to make their respective cases for a bigger role, while Carlos could use the minutes to improve his match fitness and sharpness judging on his performance this past weekend. As for Swinkels, the talented prospect will allow us to maintain our balance at the back with his ability to play on the left side of the centre-half partnership, and that gives Pau Torres the night off.
Having returned to group training earlier this month, it remains to be seen if Tyrone Mings can make the matchday squad – and the same goes for Boubacar Kamara – as it could be an ideal outing for them to get some minutes and step up their comebacks after lengthy layoffs.
Both Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans are expected to be rested, thus giving Ross Barkley and Lamare Bogarde the keys to our midfield to try and control and dictate proceedings, with the latter’s versatility allowing him to play in the defensive midfield role, if not called upon to play in defence.
After returning from injury in the win over Wolves, Leon Bailey could benefit from a run-out here to get back to peak condition, while Emiliano Buendia will no doubt be itching to get a start and remind us of what he’s capable of offering in this side behind the frontman.
Said frontman will be Jhon Duran as Ollie Watkins gets a chance to put his feet up and continue to recover from his knocks, while there could be a start for Kadan Young on the wing, with Jaden Philogene potentially still out with an injury and the likes of Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey expected to be rested.
This game is likely to come too soon for Matty Cash, while skipper John McGinn misses out due to injury. Nevertheless, there’s still a strong look to this potential Villa line-up, and it’s hoped that we can come through unscathed with a professional job to advance to the next round.
Predicted Aston Villa XI vs Wycombe: Gauci, Nedeljkovic, Diego Carlos, Swinkels, Maatsen; Bogarde, Barkley; Bailey, Buendia, K. Young; Duran.
Thoughts on the possible Villa line-up above? Any changes?
