Aston Villa predicted XI v West Ham United: Unai Emery to make Ollie Watkins call, three changes
Unai Emery could make some changes to his Aston Villa line-up for Sunday’s (17 March) trip to West Ham in the Premier League.
The Premier League contest comes three days on from the Villans thrashing Ajax 4-0 at Villa Park to advance in the Europa Conference League.
John McGinn played a starring role in that match, with his five duels won a team high [Sofascore], while nobody bettered his two tackles.
John McGinn suspended for West Ham United clash
However, the Scotsman is suspended for the game at London Stadium, which should see Youri Tielemans come into the XI.
Tielemans is similar to McGinn in many metrics, including interceptions per game (0.5 v 0.4) and pass success rate (82.4 v 82.8 per cent) [WhoScored].
Emery may be tempted to change things around elsewhere in midfield as Morgan Rogers did not make the impact he would have wanted versus Ajax, even if he did complete 100 per cent of his eight passes.
A yellow card in the first half meant Rogers, who found the target from zero pent of his shots, was sacrificed at half-time.
It may well be that he loses his place to Nicolo Zaniolo, who will be feeling refreshed and eager to make an impact.
The Italy international’s Villa Park career has not taken off just yet, with just one goal and no assists in the league, but he did at least look to make a difference from the bench against Tottenham with his one attempt on target.
Ollie Watkins injury news ahead of West Ham v Aston Villa
Ollie Watkins is a fitness doubt after limping off against Ajax, meanwhile, but Emery later downplayed fears of a potential spell on the sidelines.
The England international is scoring and assisting at a career-best 0.95 per 90 minutes in the league this season [FBref]. For context, his previous best was the 0.65 he averaged at Exeter City in League Two in 2015-16.
Emery will therefore give Watkins every chance of starting, likely alongside Moussa Diaby, Leon Bailey and Douglas Luiz, each of whom impressed in the Ajax win.
At the back, Emi Martinez, Matty Cash, Pau Torres and Alex Moreno look good value to retain their places, but Diego Carlos could be the odd man out as Ezri Konsa is back from suspension.
Konsa is a great defender and is also now in the top seven per cent of all centre-backs across Europe’s top five leagues in terms of pass completion per 90 minutes (91.8 per cent).
Boosted by the midweek win over Ajax and with some fresh legs back in the side, there is no reason why Aston Villa cannot keep hold of fourth place with three points against West Ham this weekend.
In other Aston Villa news, Don Goodman says a Villa player was justified with a gesture he made towards one of his team-mates.
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