Aston Villa will lock horns with Manchester United at the Villa Park on Sunday afternoon, hoping to pick up a positive result on their home turf. The Villans will be heading into the contest on the back of an impressive 2-1 win against Everton last week, whereas the away side registered a 3-2 loss against AS Roma in midweek.
Dean Smith will probably opt for the 4-3-3 formation; however, he is expected to keep changes to a minimum for the upcoming home encounter.
4-3-3 Aston Villa Predicted Lineup Vs Manchester United
Defence
Emiliano Martinez will continue to operate in between the sticks for the upcoming home encounter. The ex-Arsenal shot-stopper made some good saves against Everton last week, but he’ll be hoping to secure a clean sheet this time.
Ezri Konsa will form the centre-half partnership with Tyrone Mings at the heart of Villans’ backline.
Matt Targett is a guaranteed starter at the left-back position, whereas Matty Cash will fill in on the other flank as the right-back. Up against the likes of Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford, the full-backs will be expected to stay compact and keep their shape defensively.
Midfield
Douglas Luiz and John McGinn will fulfil the holding midfield positions, with the former occupying a more defensive role to shield the away side’s back-four.
Ross Barkley will slot into the attacking midfield role. However, Jack Grealish remains unavailable for the upcoming game.
“The scan has come back and it’s showed a positive scan. We’re loading him gradually and we’re obviously a little bit tentative after the last time. He’s doing gradual loading and won’t be available for this weekend.” – Dean Smith confirmed.
“He’s working on his own at the moment. As I say, it’s going to be a gradual loading. It’s a loading stress injury so we can’t rush him. I think because of the last time (aggravating it before Fulham) he broke down a bit so we’re a little tentative so will probably want to take a different approach to last time. I expect him to be training with us next week.”
Attack
Anwar El Ghazi and Bertrand Traore are expected to take up the wide positions, playing on the left and right-wing respectively.
Ollie Watkins will lead the line for the hosts against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men. The ex-championship striker will be hoping to make the most of his chances when he faces off against the Manchester United defence that has kept two clean sheets in their last five matches across all competitions.
