Leeds United will travel to the West Midlands to take on Aston Villa at the Villa Park on Friday night looking to finish their season strong with a victory on the road. The Peacocks have struggled in the English Championship so far which has mainly been down to their inconsistency. They are in need of some positive results in the coming weeks so that they can have a solid foundation to build on, next season.
Meanwhile, the Villans are flying high at the moment and are well in contention of earning a playoff spot at the end of the season. Steve Bruce’s side are one of the most in-form teams in the Championship at the moment and the former Manchester United player will hope that his team can keep another clean sheet at home versus Heckingbottom’s men.
The recent history of this fixture makes a grim reading for Villa supporters as they have not seen their team get a victory in any of their previous three encounters with the West Yorkshire outfit. Heckingbottom is expected to opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation and could be without the services of a number of key players which includes Liam Cooper, Matthew Pennington, Laurens De Bock, Luke Ayling, Conor Shaughnessy, Adam Forshaw, Eunan O’Kane and Tyler Roberts, who are major concerns for the clash.
4-2-3-1 Leeds United Predicted Lineup To Face Aston Villa
Defence
Bailey Peacock-Farrell should start in goal for the Peacocks and will be protected by a back four consisting of Pontus Jansson and Paudie O’Connor in central defence while Tom Pearce operates as the left-back and Stuart Dallas might start on the right side of the backline.
Paul Heckingbottom’s side has not kept a single clean sheet in any of their last eight matches in the league so they will look to improve on their recent defensive record when they clash heads with the Villa attackers on Friday night.
Midfield
The duo of Kalvin Phillips and Ronaldo Vieira could be deployed at the centre of the park as the holding midfielders while the trio of Pablo Hernandez, Samuel Saiz Alonso and Ergjan Alioski will play ahead of them.
Attack
Kemar Roofe is expected to lead the line for the Peacocks up top. He found the back of the net in their last league outing versus Preston which should give him the confidence to get his name on the scoresheet once again in this gameweek.
