Credit: Manh Tung - Breaking Media

James Barker

Sat 18 April 2026 18:30, UK

John McGinn makes my Aston Villa and Sunderland combined XI ahead of Sunday’s crunch Premier League clash at Villa Park.

Unai Emery‘s side will be bouncing after their thumping 7-1 aggregate victory over Bologna to reach the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday night.

As such, Villa have taken one step closer towards lifting the trophy, but their attention must now turn back to their Premier League campaign.

With a win, draw and a defeat from their last three league games, Villa must arrest their inconsistent top-flight form in order to ensure that they’re in the Champions League for 2026-27, taking some of that pressure off winning the Europa League.

Sunderland come to Villa Park on Sunday afternoon, and so ahead of this vital match for both sides’ European hopes, I’ve picked out my combined Aston Villa and Sunderland XI based on what players have done this season.

Lucas Digne earns spot in Aston Villa/Sunderland combined XI

Working our way from defence, midfield and finishing off in attack, let’s get the proverbial ball rolling with the goalkeeper spot.

Now, for me, filling this position was about the most difficult decision, as I feel bad for having to leave either one of Emi Martinez or Robin Roefs out as both are brilliant goalkeepers.

However, as per my criteria for inclusion being based on what they’ve done this season alone, and after some major back and forth, I eventually settled on Roefs, as I think he’s just about had the better individual campaign than Martinez.

Moving over to right-back, I’ve gone with another Sunderland star in Nordi Mukiele over Matty Cash, with the latter’s two goals and four assists from 26 league games making him one of the bargain buys of the 2025-26 Premier League season.

Cash has had trouble remaining consistent this season, and especially over these last few weeks, but it wasn’t easy leaving the 28-year-old out either.

Left-back is where we find our first Villa inclusion, and that comes by the way of Lucas Digne, as his four assists this term and recent strong performances have him ahead of Reinildo in my books.

Then for my two centre-backs, I’ve gone with the no-brainer inclusion of Ezri Konsa, and pairing him is Sunderland’s Omar Alderete, who like Mukiele, has once again been a brilliantly shrewd acquisition for them.

John McGinn makes combined Aston Villa/Sunderland midfield

Now we reach the heart of this Villans/Black Cats combined XI: the midfield.

Starting in the engine room of central midfield, my two picks here are Youri Tielemans and Sunderland’s Granit Xhaka.

Tielemans is a strong candidate to win Villa’s player of the season, with a goal and seven assists from 26 total appearances, and has consistently been an eight out of 10 in 2025-26.

Meanwhile, Xhaka will be in the running for the best pound for pound signing of the Premier League season, as he’s already cemented hero status on Wearside for his quality and leadership this season.

McGinn has been excellent for Aston Villa this season, scoring seven goals and providing four assists, and that’s why he’s in my team on the right wing, as I can’t have Chris Rigg or Chemsdine Talbi over the Villa Park hero at this spot.

However, I can find a home for Sunderland’s Enzo Le Fee down the left, as the 26-year-old has been brilliant for the Black Cats, notching four goals and four assists from 30 top-flight outings.

That’s tough on Emi Buendia, but the Argentine has blown too hot and cold for my liking, whereas Le Fee has remained consistently good for Regis Le Bris’ boys.

Rounding off the midfield, finding someone worthy of taking the number 10 spot was incredibly tough…ah, who am I kidding, no it wasn’t. Morgan Rogers.

The 23-year-old’s eight goals and five league assists this year has seen the England international once again be instrumental to Villa’s success, and he will continue to be rightly linked with a big-money move away this summer.

Brian Brobbey and Ollie Watkins compete for striker spot

Any good combined XI isn’t complete without a star striker, and in Ollie Watkins and Brian Brobbey, I’ve got a difficult decision to make here.

Simply looking at Brobbey’s six total goals compared to Watkins’ 13 suggests it shouldn’t really be up for debate, but anyone who has watched enough of the Sunderland star this season will understand why it’s not as simple as that.

Brobbey offers so much more to the Black Cats than goals, with his hold up play and physicality seeing him no doubt appearing at the top of many Premier League centre-backs’ lists of strikers they’ve hated playing against the most this season.

However, if you’re thinking I’m going to have said all that just to include Watkins over him, well, then you’d be right.

Even despite not being at his ruthless best this season, first and foremost, the job of any centre-forward is to score goals, and if you’re asking me who I’d want in a one-versus-one or for a chance to fall their way in the box, I’m going with Watkins.

Full Aston Villa/Sunderland combined XI: GK Roefs, RB Mukiele, LB Digne, CB’s Alderete, Konsa; CM’s Xhaka, Tielemans, RW McGinn, LW Le Fee, CAM Rogers; ST Watkins