Aston Villa clash heads with Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium on Sunday as they look to start the new year on a high. Villa have won 4 league games under new manager Steven Gerrard in his 7 games in charge, losing only to the top 3 sides in the league. Aston Villa currently sit 12th in the table with 22 points from 18 games and will be looking to add another 3 points under their belt to move into the top half of the table. Steven Gerrard will be expecting nothing less than a win on Sunday as they face newly-promoted Brentford away from home.
4-3-3 Aston Villa Predicted Lineup Vs Brentford
Defence
The Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez will continue between the sticks and will look to keep a cleansheet on Sunday.
The centre-back pairing of Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa will start at the heart of the defence looking to keep things tight at the back and not offer any space to the Brentford attackers to work with. Axel Tuanzebe and Kortney Hause will cover the defensive options from the bench.
Matty Cash and Matt Target will continue to start as full-backs and both are expected to have the freedom of going forward and create chances for the Villa attackers. They will also need to track back efficiently to stop Brentford from counterattacking with pace.
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Midfield
Steven Gerrard is expected to start with a midfield three of John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Jacob Ramsey in the middle of the park. The midfield trio will look to control the tempo of the game and also carry forward the ball to link up with the front three. John McGinn’s return will be the key for Villa on Sunday as they clearly struggled without him against Chelsea on boxing day.
Carney Chukwuemeka will start from the bench along with Morgan Sanson and will look to make an impact later on in the game. Marvelous Nakamba will miss the tie after suffering a knee injury which will keep him out for a long time.
Attack
Aston Villa’s top-scorer Ollie Watkins is expected to lead the line ahead of Danny Ings on Sunday. Ashley Young is also expected to be in the starting lineup after missing out against Chelsea with a knock. Emiliano Buendia will have another chance to impress his manager starting from the right.
Trezeguet is back after recovering from a long term injury and will be on the bench looking to play a few minutes in the closing stages of the game. Bertrand Traore, Kienan Davis and Anwar El-Ghazi will be options for Gerrard to bring on from the bench in the latter stages of the game.
