Here is how Tim Sherwood’s men will line up for tonight’s pre-season friendly at the County Ground…
Starting XI: Steer; Hutton, Richards, Clark, Amavi; Bacuna, Gardner, Westwood, Sinclair, Gil; Agbonlahor
After returning from a two-week training camp in Portugal, Aston Villa will be aiming to record their first victory of pre-season this evening when they take on League One side Swindon Town at the County Ground.
Villa began their preparations for the coming campaign with a training match against Fulham in the Algarve but fit-again Libor Kozak’s goal was not enough to prevent them from falling to a 3-1 defeat.
Tim Sherwood then saw his side held to a 0-0 draw against Primeira Liga club SC Braga on Thursday, before heading home at the weekend ahead of tonight’s friendly matchup against Mark Cooper’s Robins.
Villa’s last meeting with Swindon came in the fourth round of the Capital One Cup back in October 2012, when Christian Benteke netted a stoppage-time strike to seal the visitors a 3-2 win.
There will be no chance of him doing the same on this occasion, however, as the Liverpool-bound striker is preparing to become the club’s second big-name departure in the space of a week following Fabian Delph’s shock Manchester City move.
Nevertheless, there is a place in the line-up for new summer signing Jordan Amavi, who starts at left-back after arriving from French club Nice last week in a reported £10 million deal.
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