Aston Villa: Injuries, poor play overshadow trip to Barnsley
By Josh Tonti
Steve Bruce is on the hot seat. A run of 7 points from 7 matches to begin the year is not the return necessary for ambitious Aston Villa owner Dr. Tony Xia. A trip to Oakwell provides the opportunity for respite.
Aston Villa returns to action on Saturday with an away tilt to Barnsley. The claret and blues have several absences through injury.
Jack Grealish and Andre Green remain out for the long-term. It will likely be the new year before we see either suit-up for the first team. Likewise, Mile Jedinak and Neil Taylor are major doubts as well.
For Jedinak, it was a recurrence of the same groin injury that has troubled him for the better part of eight months. To be quite honest, it is getting to the point where it is worrying whether or not he’ll ever fully recover from the injury. The Socceroos Captain lasted 45 minutes against Middlesbrough – his only action thus far in the 2017/2018 season.
With Neil Taylor likely out, one of: Birkir Bjarnason, Ritchie De Laet, Mitch Clark, or James Bree are likely to fill-in at left back.
ASTON VILLA PROJECTED XI (4-3-3): Johnstone; Elmohamady, Chester, Terry (c), De Laet; Whelan, Onomah, Hourihane; Snodgrass, Hogan, Adomah.
SUBSTITUTES: Steer, Samba, Hutton, Lansbury, Bjarnason, O’Hare, Davis.
Ahmed Elmohamady played decently at right back against Middlesbrough. As such, Steve Bruce will continue him out-of-position in order to make room for both Albert Adomah and Robert Snodgrass on the wings.
Scott Hogan and Keinan Davis is a toss-up in the center forward position; mainly dependent on stylistic preference. Hogan has bagged a decent amount of goals thus far, meaning he starts. Of all the possible left backs (seriously, there are probably eight options Bruce could choose from), Ritchie De Laet seems most likely to start – followed by Mitch Clark.
Next: Player Grades: Villa v. Boro
WHEN: Saturday, October 16, 2017 @12:30PM EST
WHERE: Oakwell, Barnsley
PREDICTION: 1-0 (Adomah)
It’s impossible to predict how this one ends up. Look for one thing, however: If Albert Adomah fails to start, and Villa fail to win, the cries for Steve Bruce’s sacking will get even louder than they currently are.