Aston Villa are back in action tonight with a Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest away from home.
After drawing 0-0 against Leeds United last time out, Steven Gerrard will undoubtedly be hoping to see his side pick up all three points against Forest, who currently find themselves bottom of the league.
In terms of what Gerrard’s starting XI could look like to take on Steve Cooper’s side tonight, here’s our prediction for how he could set his team up.
Starting in goal, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Emi Martinez keep his place in the team after playing in all of Villa’s league games this season.
Moving onto the back four, with Matty Cash having recovered from a hamstring injury, we think he’ll be back in the team at right-back.
For the two centre-back roles, we think that Gerrard will keep Tyrone Mings in the side but drop 24-year-old Ezri Konsa and bring in Jan Bednarek for his first start of the season after he came on for Ludwig Augustinsson against Leeds.
Then at left-back, with Augustinsson and Lucas Digne out injured, we predict that Ashley Young will fill that gap on this occasion.
Ahead of the defence, we can see Gerrard sticking with the same trio that started at Elland Road, namely John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Jacob Ramsey.
Finally, for the three attacking positions, we can see the Villa boss keeping Philippe Coutinho and Ollie Watkins in the side, but bringing in Emi Buendia for Leon Bailey after the Jamaican recently picked up a muscle issue.
Described by Gerrard in the past as a “little warrior”, Buendia has made more passes into the 18-yard box (9) than any other Villa player this season, which shows how useful he can be in attacking moves.
This, therefore, could make the £75k-per-week attacker a good option for Gerrard to pick in his side this evening with Bailey a doubt.
