Aston Villa will travel to Brentford on Boxing Day following their entertaining home draw against Sheffield United on Saturday. Steve Bruce’s men have not won in any of their last four league matches and are currently struggling to keep pace in the race to secure a playoff spot. The Villains are occupying the 6th place with just goal difference separating them from Sheffield United in the league standings. They will hope for a return to winning ways against Brentford but securing the three points won’t be an easy task. The Bees are floating in midtable in the Championship leaderboard and has become the draw specialists of the division having settled for a point in 10 league matches this season.
The recent history of the fixture doesn’t bode well for the West Midlands club as the Villains have failed to beat Brentford in their previous three encounters with the 12th placed Championship team. Steve Bruce is expected to deploy a traditional 4-4-1-1 formation on Monday night and might name an unchanged line-up for their trip to Brentford.
4-4-1-1 Aston Villa Predicted Lineup To Face Brentford
Defence
Manchester United loanee Sam Johnstone will once again start in goal for the Villains and may be shielded by a backline consisting of Mile Jedinak and James Chester as centre-backs while Neil Taylor takes the position of left-back and Ahmed Elmohamady resumes his duties on the right side of the back four.
Steve Bruce’s men have conceded 22 goals in 23 matches in the Championship so far and have leaked in five goals in their past four games in the league. A clean sheet on Boxing Day may go a long way in boosting their chances of securing the three points at Griffin Park.
Midfield
Glenn Whelan and Conor Hourihane might be deployed at the centre of the park while Villa’s top scorer Albert Adomah hugs the left flank and Robert Snodgrass looks to conquer the right-hand side of the midfield.
Adomah has scored 12 goals for the Villains in this campaign which included a goal against Sheffield United in Villa’s last league match. He will be hoping to add to his goal tally on Monday versus a sturdy Brentford side.
Attack
Jack Grealish might partner Keinan Davis up front for Steve Bruce’s Villa with Gabriel Agbonlahor settling for a place on the bench. The duo needs to start scoring soon if they want to keep themselves in the hunt for Premier League football next term.
