Aston Villa will welcome fellow promotion hopefuls Nottingham Forest to the Villa Park on Wednesday night, as they look to continue their ascendancy in the EFL Championship standings.
Following the appointment of Dean Smith as the new manager after Steve Bruce’s sacking, the Villans have corrected their course, after a poor start to the 2018-19 campaign. The Midlands’ outfit has picked up three wins in a row now, with the latest coming in the form of a 4-2 win over Birmingham City on Sunday.
Aston Villa currently sit 8th in the table, three points behind their Wednesday’s opponents, who occupy the seventh spot. And a win in the midweek would see Smith’s team inch closer to the playoff positions.
Albert Adomah is set to miss out after picking up an injury in the derby against Birmingham at the weekend. He joins midfielders Birkir Bjarnason and Mile Jedinak on the sidelines for Villa.
Former Arsenal midfielder Henri Lansbury was hooked off eight minutes into his comeback against the Blues and is expected to play no part on Wednesday night.
John McGinn missed the weekend clash owing to a calf problem he picked up while on international duty, but could be available for selection when Forest come visiting.
Here’s how Aston Villa could take the field against Aitor Karanka’s men on Wednesday;
The Norwegian goalie wasn’t off to the best of starts at Villa Park, but two clean sheets in his last three games would have done his confidence good. A guaranteed starter between the sticks.
The Scotsman was on the scoresheet in the Second City derby this past weekend and should hold on to his spot at right-back on Wednesday.
The on-loan Manchester United defender has been impressive since being moved into the central defensive role by Smith. Given the lack of options in the position for the manager, he can ill-afford to rotate.
The captain has missed just one league game all season for Villa and is a definite starter at the heart of the defence when fit and available.
The only natural senior left-back at Smith’s disposal, the Welshman should once again feature from the kick off for the Villans against the Reds.
With Adomah out with an injury, the opportunity might be right for Smith to give on-loan winger Yannick Bolasie a run out from the get-go on Wednesday night.
The Scottish international is the beating heart of this Villa side. Should recover from his calf problem and walk right back into the team for the midweek game.
Partnering McGinn in the middle of the park should be 27-year-old Conor Hourihane, who has scored two goals and set up 5 more in 17 Championship games this term.
The Ivory Coast international bagged his fifth goal of the ongoing season on Sunday and should get the nod out on the left flank against Forest.
The 23-year-old was also among the goalscorers for the Midlands outfit in the derby on Sunday. A certain starter in Smith’s team in the hole behind the striker.
Spearheading the attack for the home team on Wednesday will be on-loan striker Tammy Abraham, who has six goals from 12 Championship outings in the ongoing campaign.
