Aston Villa face Brentford in the Premier League this weekend, and Unai Emery has provided his latest team news ahead of the encounter.
After holding out for a draw against Newcastle United last week in our season opener, Villa will hope to get a first win on the board against a Brentford side who suffered defeat last time out and have lost a number of key players over the summer as well as former boss Thomas Frank.
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Despite the expectation that this is a great opportunity for us to get three points, it will still be a difficult test, and so Emery will need a top performance from his players, and he will have hoped to have as close to a fully-fit squad available as possible.
Unfortunately, as per the club’s official post, we’ll be without the suspended Ezri Konsa, while Matt Maher reports that both Andres Garcia and Ross Barkley remain sidelined as they continue to recover from injury.
There is an important boost for Villa this weekend though, as although Marco Bizot impressed in his debut last weekend, Emiliano Martinez returns from suspension and will likely get the nod to start between the posts for us.
With his experience, leadership and shot-stopping qualities, the Argentine ace will be a vital presence in the Villa XI again, and it’s hoped that we can find the solution without Konsa to keep a much-needed clean sheet on the road.
Emery did hint at the possible inclusion of Lamare Bogarde in his pre-match press conference, but he also has the option of dropping Boubacar Kamara into the backline to partner either Tyrone Mings or Pau Torres, while those two could even partner each other, depending on whether or not we’re comfortable with the balance of having two left-footed centre-halves in the side.
While we wait to see if there will be any additional reinforcements who arrive before the transfer window deadline, we still have plenty of quality and depth in the squad to get a positive result this Saturday, and it’s hoped that they can get the job done and secure all three points.
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