Confirmed Aston Villa v Derby lineups: Bacuna starts, Bjarnason on the bench

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Aston Villa are in desperate need of points as they take on Derby County this afternoon.

Villa lost 2-0 at Newcastle United on Monday evening, meaning it’s now seven defeats in the last eight Championship games.

The pressure is mounting on manager Steve Bruce, and he desperately needs a result today with Villa just six points clear of the relegation zone.

Today, Bruce has gone with a back four of Alan Hutton, James Chester, Nathan Baker and Neil Taylor in front of Sam Johnstone, whilst Mile Jedinak, Leandro Bacuna and Henri Lansbury start in midfield.

Andre Green and Albert Adomah will support Jonathan Kodjia in attack, with Scott Hogan out through injury.

Jack Grealish and Birkir Bjarnason are both on the bench along with Gary Gardner, Jordan Amavi, Mark Bunn, James Bree and Tommy Elphick.

Meanwhile, Derby will be hoping to keep any lingering hopes of a play-off push alive, with Steve McClaren’s men ten points off the top six.

The Rams are without a win in four though, and McClaren needs his side to pick up a positive result here to avoid heading into a slump.

Ex-Villa striker Darren Bent starts against his former club, whilst goalkeeper Scott Carson also returns to Villa Park.

Cyrus Christie, Richard Keogh, Alex Pearce and Max Lowe start in defence, with Will Hughes, Jacob Butterfied and loanee Julien de Sart in midfield.

Johnny Russell and Tom Ince support Bent in attack, whilst there are places on the bench for David Nugent, Markus Olsson and Ikechi Anya, along with Craig Bryson, Chris Bard, Mason Bennett and goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell.