Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed that he will make changes to his side for our Carabao Cup tie with Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night.
Given our participation in the Champions League, as well as the challenging Premier League schedule, the expectation has been that we will see significant rotation in midweek to rest key players and protect them from injuries, while simultaneously giving others an opportunity to play and impress by utilising our squad depth.
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It remains to be seen just how many changes Emery opts to make to his starting line-up, but he has confirmed his intention to make them, while he also offered some fascinating insight into how he is prioritising the competitions this year as we look to compete on multiple fronts.
It’s hard to argue with his assessment, but ultimately Villa fans will be desperate to land silverware this season, and hopefully we can enjoy an extended run in the Carabao Cup to get closer to achieving that objective.
“It is clear the priority is the Premier League, 38 matches, through it we have to get our first objective, try and be in the top seven and be consistent in playing in Europe, that is the most difficult way through the Premier League,” he said, as quoted by the Express and Star.
“The second most difficult is the Champions League and then we have to try to find something important in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
“The FA Cup is maybe more important than the Carabao Cup, but the Carabao Cup is a trophy and we are going to compete.
“Of course, I am going to change some players but I am going to prepare a plan to win and to get a good way in this competition in case we can get through three matches and get an opportunity to fight for a trophy through it.”
John McGinn will not be available after sustaining a hamstring injury in our win over Wolves this past weekend, while it remains to be seen if the likes of Tyrone Mings, Boubacar Kamara and Matty Cash can make the matchday squad after their respective stints on the sidelines recovering from setbacks.
It’s likely that we will see Joe Gauci, Kosta Nedeljkovic, Ian Maatsen, Ross Barkley, Emiliano Buendia and Jhon Duran have prominent roles to play, but time will tell if there will changes across the board and an entirely new-look Villa starting XI, with some of our youngsters perhaps in line to get a chance from Emery to make a positive impression too.
Regardless of personnel though, the most important thing will be to advance to the next round, and hopefully continue to move closer to challenging for a trophy this year.
