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Aston Villa vs Bolton: Predicted Starting XI

By Clayton Nass

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - MARCH 16: Dean Smith, manager of Aston Villa looks on during the Sky Bet Championship match between Aston Villa and Middlesbrough at Villa Park on March 16, 2019 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - MARCH 16: Dean Smith, manager of Aston Villa looks on during the Sky Bet Championship match between Aston Villa and Middlesbrough at Villa Park on March 16, 2019 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images) /
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The game is on! Aston Villa will get the opportunity to travel to Bolton and face the relegation-threatened Wanderers this Friday.

Here is the good news for Bolton Wanderers F.C.: This week, they’ve learned that the club will be purchased by previous Watford F.C. owner Laurence Bassini. Players and staff will be paid, and the club will officially avoid liquidation.  Here is the bad news: A loss in their home match against Aston Villa would officially relegate them to playing the next season in the third-tier of English football.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa will need to keep this hot streak alive in order to ensure a top-6 finish and the opportunity to play for promotion. The club currently sit in 5th place on 69 points, with a tenuously comfortable cushion above 7th place.

According to stats-blog Experimental361, each of these respective clubs are coming off some of their most polarizing xG (expected goals) matches of the season. Aston Villa had an astonishing xG of 3.3 while Bolton had a rough xG of 0.6.

So, I’m not going to sugar-coat it. This shapes up pretty nicely for Aston Villa.

The team is looking to continue forging one of the greatest winning runs in club history, they’re hot at the perfect time, and they are finally getting healthy! Jack is back from illness and Tammy Abraham is good to go after picking up what Dean Smith called a “fatigue related injury”. The stable of CBs (Hause, Elphick, Chester) are all getting close to being ready to go again. Jonathan Kodjia is back in training following a slight rib injury. HERE WE GO.

The team should be close to picking itself, the only debate surrounding what to do with John McGinn given his yellow card situation. I’m 100% a proponent on securing playoff position before resting McGinn, provided he can behave and not pick up another yellow.

Predicted Aston Villa Starting XI: Steer, Elmohamady, Tuanzebe, Mings, Taylor; Whelan, McGinn, Grealish; El Ghazi, Abraham, Green. 

Substitutes: Šarkic, Hourihane, Hutton, Adomah, Davis, Jedinak, Lansbury

When: 19 April, 2019 @ 15:00 GMT / 10:00 a.m. EST

Where: University of Bolton Stadium

Prediction: 3-0 Aston Villa (Abraham, El Ghazi, Davis)

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