Aston Villa face their third pre-season test of the summer at Shrewsbury. You can watch live at the official Aston Villa FC YouTube channel.
Here’s the team to face Shrewsbury Town: Johnstone; Hutton, Terry, Chester, Taylor; Bjarnason, Veretout, Hourihane, Green; McCormack, Hogan.
My God, that looks beautiful. Villa set-up in a flat 4-4-2 with Andre Green and Birkir Bjarnason on the flanks. The partnership of Scott Hogan and Ross McCormack continues after the match against Kidderminster.
Jordan Veretout getting the start is certainly interesting as well…
Team: Johnstone, Hutton, Chester, Terry, Taylor, Green, Veretout, Hourihane, Bjarnason, McCormack, Hogan.
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) July 15, 2017
LIVE 👉 https://t.co/Llv2jeJ7er pic.twitter.com/6TENQRXGEF
Sam Johnstone gets his first taste of pre-season football after re-upping on a loan move. Elsewhere, Neil Taylor returns to the fold at left back. The Wales international missed the previous round of games. Alan Hutton gets the start at right back over James Bree.
1. John Terry, Aston Villa FC Captain
The Claret and Blue have a new captain for their newest league campaign. To absolutely no one’s surprise, John Terry, is the club’s latest leader.
John Terry confirmed as captain – and will wear the armband for the first time today against @ShrewsWeb…#AVFC #PartOfThePride pic.twitter.com/ec77hbMire
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) July 15, 2017
One does have to feel for James Chester, who undeservedly lost the armband. Though, he probably won’t care too much if the Villa are leading the table.
2. How Aston Villa fare against league competition
No disrespect to Telford or Kidderminster, but Shrewsbury, a League One side, should be stiffer competition. And even then, it’s still pre-season and the result matters none.
If Villa bag a couple goals, concede little, come away un-injured, and looks competent, well then, that would be a resounding success.
The live stream to watch on YouTube is linked right below:
3. Which injured players come off the bench
Mile Jedinak is still recovering from groin injury, so he’s unavailable. Nathan Baker suffered a head injury at Telford. Likewise, Albert Adomah came off injured as well. I think it unlikely we see either of the latter.
Jack Grealish had a busy summer with England youth duty. He may not come back until next week.
Next: 3 takeaways from Villa pre-season victories
Enjoy the match!