Aston Villa (A)4:30pm Sunday 22 Oct (Sky Sports)
Did anyone know that in our last ten games against Villa we've won six and drawn four? Me neither.
We haven't lost to Villa since May 2015, away at Villa Park when they had Christian Benteke in the squad and we had Morgan Amalfitano. Since then they've spent three seasons in the Championship, had nine different managers and two changes of owners.
When we kick off on Sunday it will be two days short of a year since Unai Emery was appointed manager although it took another week to sort out his work permit. The transformation since he took over is undeniable, taking them from a team that struggled in the bottom half of the Prem to qualifying for European football for the first time n over a decade.
Emery doesn't change the squad much, eight players have started all eight Premier League games with two more starting seven.
Martinez
Cash Torres Konsa Digne
??????? Luiz Kamara McGinn
Diaby Watkins
Possible variations are Leon Bailey on the right (2 games), Italian international Nicolo Zaniolo (on loan from Galatasaray) on the left with McGinn switching to the right (3) or Diego Carlos as a third CB with Cash and Digne playing as wing backs (3),
The big signing of the summer was FW Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen for a club record of £52m. He mostly played as a winger before he joined Villa but Emery seems to be using him as a striker alongside Ollie Watkins. (Watkins has played us six times over the last three seasons and scored a goal every season)
The big absence is Tyrone Mings who got stretchered off on the opening day and has had surgery to fix a cruciate ligament. He's been replaced by Pau Torries, £33m from Villarreal,
Previous club record signing Emiliano Buendia (£38m from Norwich 2021) didn't even get to start the season, suffering a similar knee ligament injury three days before the first match.
Another noticeable absence is Philippe Coutinho whose transfer from Barcelona was greeted as one of the best signings of last summer but clearly he doesn't fit into Emery's plans and he's been allowed to go on loan to Al-Duhail in Qatar
One new arrival rumoured not to be a happy bunny is Youri Tielelmans who signed on a free from Leicester. He hasn't been given a single start in the Premier League and allegedly wants to leave in January after a bust up with Emery
On the bench 19yo Columbian CF Jhon Durán is worth keeping an eye on, he usually gets brought on towards the end of the match and has scored twice in six Premier League appearances.
It's fairly predictable that Moyes will allow Villa to have most of the possession then hit them on the counter as its delivered some impressive r4esult so far this season
In other news Villa players have complained about with their new shirts which become drenched with sweat after a few minutes.
Ewwwwwwww
We haven't lost to Villa since May 2015, away at Villa Park when they had Christian Benteke in the squad and we had Morgan Amalfitano. Since then they've spent three seasons in the Championship, had nine different managers and two changes of owners.
When we kick off on Sunday it will be two days short of a year since Unai Emery was appointed manager although it took another week to sort out his work permit. The transformation since he took over is undeniable, taking them from a team that struggled in the bottom half of the Prem to qualifying for European football for the first time n over a decade.
Emery doesn't change the squad much, eight players have started all eight Premier League games with two more starting seven.
Martinez
Cash Torres Konsa Digne
??????? Luiz Kamara McGinn
Diaby Watkins
Possible variations are Leon Bailey on the right (2 games), Italian international Nicolo Zaniolo (on loan from Galatasaray) on the left with McGinn switching to the right (3) or Diego Carlos as a third CB with Cash and Digne playing as wing backs (3),
The big signing of the summer was FW Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen for a club record of £52m. He mostly played as a winger before he joined Villa but Emery seems to be using him as a striker alongside Ollie Watkins. (Watkins has played us six times over the last three seasons and scored a goal every season)
The big absence is Tyrone Mings who got stretchered off on the opening day and has had surgery to fix a cruciate ligament. He's been replaced by Pau Torries, £33m from Villarreal,
Previous club record signing Emiliano Buendia (£38m from Norwich 2021) didn't even get to start the season, suffering a similar knee ligament injury three days before the first match.
Another noticeable absence is Philippe Coutinho whose transfer from Barcelona was greeted as one of the best signings of last summer but clearly he doesn't fit into Emery's plans and he's been allowed to go on loan to Al-Duhail in Qatar
One new arrival rumoured not to be a happy bunny is Youri Tielelmans who signed on a free from Leicester. He hasn't been given a single start in the Premier League and allegedly wants to leave in January after a bust up with Emery
On the bench 19yo Columbian CF Jhon Durán is worth keeping an eye on, he usually gets brought on towards the end of the match and has scored twice in six Premier League appearances.
It's fairly predictable that Moyes will allow Villa to have most of the possession then hit them on the counter as its delivered some impressive r4esult so far this season
In other news Villa players have complained about with their new shirts which become drenched with sweat after a few minutes.
Ewwwwwwww
Comments
Villa very dangeroud attacking. When they've got stuffed (e.g. by Newcastle) I believe it was their high line that was exposed. I dont know if we have the system or personnel to do that though. I did recall that we've had plenty of good results vs Villa in recent seasons but I think we'll be doing very well to outscore them this time...
Referee: David Coote
Assistant Referees: Constantine Hatzidakis and Mark Scholes
Fourth Official: Thomas Bramall
VAR: Chris Kavanagh
Assistant VAR: Matthew Wilkes
Coote reffed our 1-0 win at Villa Park last season
Coufal - Zouma - Aguerd - Emerson
Soucek - Alvarez - Ward-Prowse
Bowen - Paqueta
Antonio
Fabianski, Mavropanos, Ogbonna, Kehrer, Fornals, Kudus, Benrahma, Cornet, Ings
Again, I don’t see anything other than that line-up.
Longer term, I can definitely see Kudus pushing Antonio out of the side, I just don't see it happening this weekend.
Alvarez - JWP
Bowen - Kudus - Paqueta
Antonio/ST
But at the moment Soucek has to play with his current form.
Antonio plays right up against the centre backs/full backs, using his strength to hold them off when the ball is played to him or his pace if the ball is played behind the defence. Kudus plays deeper and will run the ball at the defence.
Kudus is more like Bowen than Antonio
Areola
Coufal Mavropanos Zouma Emerson
Alvarez
Bowen JWP Soucek Paqueta
Kudus
Fab Kehrer Aguerd Ogbonna Fornals Benrahma Cornet Antonio Marshall
Not sure regard Mavropanos or Aguerd? I feel Aguerd is the better player but more likely to make a major error.
I would keep Soucek in as I think he is finding himself able to play to his strengths again now Dec has gone.
The last away match was against Leeds, 2-2, booked two Leeds players and gave us a penalty in the first half, booked another and the manager in the second half then booked Aguerd in time added on
Best guess...
Martinez
Konsa Carlos Torres
Cash Kamara Luiz McGinn Digne
Diaby Watkins
Coufal - Zouma - Aguerd - Emerson
Bowen - Alvarez - JWP - Paqueta
Soucek
Antonio
Kudus just doesn’t get in that side at the moment.