Claret Villans
Fansided

League Match 19: Aston Villa at Leeds United

By Josh Tonti

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 30: Jonathan Kodjia of Aston Villa during the Sky Bet Championship match between Birmingham City and Aston Villa at St Andrews (stadium) on October 30, 2016 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images)
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 30: Jonathan Kodjia of Aston Villa during the Sky Bet Championship match between Birmingham City and Aston Villa at St Andrews (stadium) on October 30, 2016 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Aston Villa Football Club travel to West Yorkshire in a match-up with Leeds United at Elland Road. The claret and blue will attempt to make it eight in a row unbeaten.

Fresh off an EFL Cup defeat to Liverpool, Garry Monk’s Leeds United will attempt to rebound with a home match in the Championship.

Tuesday night’s defeat saw Leeds United drop out of the EFL Cup in the quarterfinals. Second half goals from Divock Origi and Ben Woodburn buried any chance of cup progression. Short on rest, the club host Aston Villa in a match-up between two promotion contenders on Saturday.

More from Claret Villans

A trio of Leeds players have been declared fit by manager Garry Monk. Pontus Jansson missed the cup-tie with an illness while Eunan O’Kane and Liam Cooper were taken off as precautionary measures.

On Steve Bruce’s side, he has a mostly healthy Aston Villa side to tinker with.

The only injured players at the moment include: long-term absentee Ritchie De Laet, it is also unclear whether Micah Richards will be fit in time for Saturday’s match.

Nathan Baker was taken off as a precaution during last week’s match, but there has been no update on his condition. Also worth noting James Chester broke his nose at Brighton and has been playing through it since then.

PROJECTED ASTON VILLA XI (4-3-3): Gollini; Hutton, Elphick, Chester, Amavi; Jedinak, Gardner, Grealish; Adomah, Kodjia, Ayew.

SUBSTITUTES: Bunn, Baker, Cissokho, Westwood, Tshibola, McCormack, Gestede,

Nathan Baker may not be ready to start with anything less than 100% full fitness.

Ashley Westwood gets dropped after a bad performance in the Cardiff City victory. In comes Gary Gardner to take his place.

Other than those two changes, everything else remains the same. I could possibly see Ross McCormack coming in for Jordan Ayew while Kodjia splits out wide left (or maybe even Ross himself).

Of course, Steve Bruce could always push Jack Grealish farther forward and bring in an extra central midfielder away from home.

Home/Analysis