Aston Villa take on Walsall in pre-season this evening at 7:30pm
Unai Emery's Aston Villa are in action against Walsall tonight
Unai Emery's Aston Villa are in action against Walsall tonight
(Image: PA)
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has named his starting XI to face Walsall at the Bescot Stadium this evening.
This is the first of eight pre-season games Villa will play this summer, so plenty of rotation is expected at half-time and into the second period.
After tonight’s match against Walsall, Villa will travel to Germany to face Hansa Rostock on Saturday. Next week, they’ll head to the USA for matches against Frankfurt, St. Louis, and Nashville.
Villa will return to the Bescot Stadium in three weeks to face AS Roma on Wednesday, August 6. The pre-season will conclude with two separate squads taking on Marseille and Villarreal the weekend before the Premier League resumes.
Joe Gauci starts in goal, behind a defence of Triston Rowe, Yeimar Mosquera, Pau Torres and Alex Moreno.
Ross Barkley and Lamare Bogarde will play in the double pivot, with Kadan Young on the right, Jacob Ramsey on the left and Jamal Jimoh-Aloba as the number 10.
Louie Barry starts from the off and could lead the line despite being expected to join Sheffield United on loan next week.
Villa starting XI vs Walsall: Gauci, Rowe, Mosquera, Torres, Moreno, Barkley, Bogarde, Ramsey (C), Barry, Young, Jimoh-Aloba.
Subs: Marschall, Proctor, Mings, Garcia, Dobbin, Kamara, Hemmings, Patterson, Ozcan, Pavey, Carroll, Burrowes.
Every day, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Aston Villa content.
Our dedicated reporter John Townley - who you can follow on X by clicking here - follows Villa home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between.
So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur - that's why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you'll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Villa newsletter here.
You can also get all your favourite content from BirminghamLive's Villa team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club.
If you prefer reading our Villa stories on your phone, consider downloading the BirminghamLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Villa as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here.
Our weekly Aston Villa podcast, Claret And Blue, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here, while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here.