Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur will be hoping to get off to a positive start in their Premier League opener at the weekend.
Aston Villa could potentially give debuts to six new players on Saturday evening when they take on Tottenham Hotspur in their Premier League opener.
Dean Smith’s side, who were promoted to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs, will travel to North London for a tough opening fixture against last season’s Champions League finalists.
Both Villa and Spurs were busy during the summer transfer window – the Midlands outfit signed 12 players – and a number of their new recruits will be hoping to feature.
Smith could potentially give first starts to the likes of Wesley Moraes, Jota, Fred Guilbert (signed in January, joined up in the summer), Bjorn Engels, Matt Targett and Tom Heaton.
What could be the possibility for Villa is that the midfield trio that started that Championship play-off final win against Derby – Jack Grealish, Conor Hourihane, and John McGinn, will more than likely find themselves in the starting XI at the weekend.
If Grealish and McGinn can turn it on in the middle of the park then they will run Tottenham’s new £54 million signing, Tanguy Ndombele [BBC Sport] ragged, that’s if Mauricio Pochettino selects him from the get-go.
Either way, all eyes will be on Grealish and how he performs because things could have been a lot different for the playmaker 12 months.
Other familiar faces to Villa fans who could start against Spurs could be Tyrone Mings and Anwar El Ghazi – both were on-loan at the club last season and they signed permanent contracts over the summer.
This is how Villa could potentially line-up against Spurs at the weekend:
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