Unai Emery makes John McGinn mistake – Aston Villa confirmed XI v Crystal Palace
Unai Emery has made an error by starting John McGinn as Aston Villa welcome Crystal Palace to Villa Park in the EFL Cup.
The Villans announced their team to face Oliver Glasner’s side on X (30 October) with the Spaniard making 10 changes from the draw against Bournemouth.
Jhon Duran, Emi Buendia and Boubacar Kamara are the notable additions to the side while Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers and Amadou Onana have all dropped out of the starting XI.
Unai Emery may regret John McGinn for Aston Villa clash v Crystal Palace
Emery has made plenty of changes to his side as he looks to make the most of his squad in the midst of a busy fixture schedule.
This has seen Joe Gauci come in to replace Emi Martinez for his second appearance of the season.
Ahead of him, Tyrone Mings is starting his first game in well over a year. The Englishman is featuring alongside Diego Carlos and they are going to be flanked by Ian Maatsen and Kosta Nedeljkovic in a fully overhauled back line.
There is a similar story in the midfield as Kamara has come in alongside McGinn with both Youri Tielemans and Onana dropping out.
Having McGinn start ahead of someone like Jacob Ramsey could prove to be a mistake given that the Scotland international failed to complete a tackle against the Cherries while winning just 37 per cent of his duels.
Given that the 30-year-old has just returned from injury, starting him in the cup could also prove to be a risk that isn’t worth taking.
On the other flank, Ramsey has surprisingly lost his place with Jaden Philogene coming in, being joined by Emi Beundia who is making his second start of the campaign. Leon Bailey has also come into the side after a poor run of form in recent weeks.
Up front, Duran will be keen to impress once again from the start after scoring against Wycombe Wanderers in the last round. He put up a shot accuracy of just 33 per cent as he missed one big chance against Bournemouth so he will be keen to right those wrongs.
In other Aston Villa news, an Ex-Villa winger has agreed to return ‘home’ to Villa Park.
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