Aston Villa vs. Nottingham Forest: Predicted Claret and Blue XI

Aston Villa travel to the City Ground on short rest. A critical three points will vault Dean Smith’s men ahead of another promotion contender.

Per BBC, Nottingham Forest are facing doubts about the availability of top scorer (and former Villan) Lewis Grabban on Wednesday. Both he and midfielder Matty Cash are dealing with achilles issues. Similarly, defender Jack Robinson is serving the second game of a two-match ban and will not feature.

Forest currently sit two points ahead in the table and a third victory on the bounce will certainly feel good for the Villa. To do so, however, the claret and blues will need to grind out a positive result on one less day of rest – having played on Sunday vs. Forest’s Saturday match.

Dean Smith has another lineup call to make in midfield after John McGinn impressed after having come on as a substitute. His likely inclusion results in one of Glenn Whelan or Conor Hourihane dropping to the bench. Likewise, the competition in goal is worth watching as Jed Steer and Lovre Kalinic jockey for the position.

Predicted Aston Villa XI (4-3-3): Steer, Elmohamady, Hause, Mings, Taylor; Hourihane, McGinn, Grealish; El Ghazi, Abraham, Green

Substitutes: Kalinic, Jedinak, Bjarnason, Whelan, Adomah, Kodjia, Davis

Villa see reinforcements on the horizon, but they are still two weeks away:

Axel Tuanzebe, in particular, is a critical component. Right now the only cover to Kortney Hause and Tyrone Mings at centre-back is Mile Jedinak. The international break allows the club to get a few healthy bodies back.

Akin to McGinn, I could see André Green getting a run out from the opening whistle with Albert Adomah dropping to the bench.

WHEN: 13 March, 2019 @ 19:45 GMT / 3:45 p.m. EST

WHERE: The City Ground

PREDICTION: 2-1 Villa (Abraham, McGinn)