Aston Villa predicted XI vs Real Sociedad: Luka Lynch set for next steps, Leon Bailey doomed

Aston Villa are set for a Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium return against Real Sociedad on Tuesday.

Pre-season preparations are now hotting up as the Villans get ready for yet another tough test.

They are back in Walsall after a weekend trip to Portugal to face Porto.

A mix of experience and youth took the field at Estadio do Dragao to play out a 2-1 defeat.

Luka Lynch netted an equaliser in claret and blue before Pepe netted the final goal of the friendly before half time.

Unai Emery is now looking ahead to a meeting with Sociedad as we assess what XI could start.

Defensive consistency could be key vs Real Sociedad

It does feel know as if there is a good number of senior names ready to be featuring in these summer friendlies.

That was on show against Porto and could be replicated at the Bescot.

Marco Bizot started in Portugal and could do so again with a very familiar back four ahead of him.

Matty Cash and Ian Maatsen could be set to start again as they look to better their respective record of eight and two Premier League clean sheets last season.

They could be joined by Tyrone Mings and Modou Keba Cisse, with the latter impressing in his second ever claret and blue start, as covered by Villa News.

Ahead of those, Lamare Bogarde could feature again as the Dutchman goes in search of more goal output after his assist against Porto on Saturday.

He could be joined by Joao Gomes who could return to the starting XI after featuring from the bench last time out.

Luka Lynch deserves Aston Villa start

The attacking area in claret and blue is more up in the air due to the lack of first-team stars.

Leon Bailey is the only senior face available for the forward line, but he has followed on from his zero goals and 19.2 per cent dribble success rate in the Premier League to pre-season.

He could drop out and allow George Hemmings to feature from a wide attacking midfield role.

That could see him feature on the opposite flank to Lynch after he netted a stunner against Porto, his second in as many friendly outings.

This could be the perfect chance for him to take his next steps and thrive again.

That would allow Ross Barkley to shuffle forward and he could start in the 10, as he did six times last campaign.

Brian Madjo is another talent who deserves a start and could replace Bradley Burrows from the start.

His cameo off the bench certainly wet the appetite in B6 after one charging run forward was raved about at Estadio do Dragao.