Aston Villa need to find their best form after the international break.
Aston Villa travel to Blackburn Rovers in the league on Saturday, with the teams separated in the Championship table on goal difference alone.
The Midlands giants will be keen to push on towards the top-end of the table, but are facing a Blackburn team that flew to promotion from League One last season.
Arguably their biggest star could be back from injury at the weekend in the form of creative playmaker Bradley Dack, which is bad news for Villa.
The attacking midfielder likes to play in the pocket behind the striker and he was directly involved in 29 goals across all competitions last season.
He has started the new campaign in great form too, scoring four goals and supplying three assists in just four games in all competitions.
Dack is certainly a major threat for Blackburn going forward and looks ready to take the Championship by storm this season, if he can avoid regular injuries.
Villa will be well aware of the danger-man, but will Bruce go out of his way to limit his impact on the weekend’s game?
One option is to deploy a one-on-one marker on 24-year-old Dack to make sure he doesn’t get at the defence, something that Glenn Whelan would be ideal for.
Alternatively Villa could look to pack their midfield with plenty of bodies and that’s something they could do ahead of a trip to Ewood Park.
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