Aston Villa will entertain Cardiff City at the Villa Park on Tuesday night after suffering a disappointing away defeat at the hands of Norwich City last weekend. Steve Bruce will hope that his players can bounce back immediately in midweek as they look to consolidate their 4th placed playoff position in the league table. The Villans are still in pole position to finish in one of the playoff spots at the end of the campaign but they have fallen off the pace in their quest to earn an automatic promotion back to the Premier League in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the Bluebirds are currently sitting in the second place and will look to earn maximum points at Villa Park so that they can keep some distance between themselves and Fulham, who are hot on their heels in the 3rd place. The recent history of this fixture makes a grim reading for the home side as they have lost their past two meetings with the Welsh outfit.
4-1-4-1 Aston Villa Predicted Lineup To Face Cardiff City
Defence
Sam Johnstone will start in goal for the home team and might be protected by a back four of James Chester and John Terry in central defence while Ahmed Elmohamady plays at right-back and Neil Taylor operates on the left side of the Villa defence.
The Villans backline has kept two clean sheets in their last three league matches and Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce will hope that his defenders can keep the Bluebirds attack at bay on Tuesday night.
Midfield
Birkir Bjarnason is expected to be deployed as a deep-lying defensive midfielder while the duo of Jack Grealish and Conor Hourihane plays in front of the Icelandic midfielder at the centre of the park. Grealish got his name on the scoresheet against Norwich City in their last league outing and will look to repeat the feat versus Neil Warnock’s side in midweek.
The West Midlands club’s top scorer Albert Adomah will start on the left flank, looking to add to his goal tally of 15 goals in this campaign. Robert Snodgrass will try to cut in on his stronger left foot and create some opportunities for his teammates while operating on the right side of the midfield.
Attack
Scott Hogan is expected to lead the lines for Steve Bruce’s team up top. He found the back of the net in his last home start against Reading last week and will now look to get his name on the scoresheet once again when he laces up to face the Bluebirds on Tuesday night.
