Aston Villa make the short trip to St. Andrew’s to take on rivals Birmingham City this weekend – we preview Steve Bruce’s potential starting XI.
Aston Villa and Birmingham City are amongst the top tackling teams in this season’s Championship and the likes of James Chester, Leandro Bacuna, Michael Morrison and Maikel Kieftenbeld should all ensure that this is a competitive and combative clash.
Recently-appointed manager Steve Bruce has begun to change Villa’s fortunes after an awful start to their Championship campaign, as his side recorded their first back-to-back victories since May 2015 with a 1-0 defeat of Fulham last weekend.
However, in the lead-up to this encounter against his former club and fellow Midlands rivals Birmingham, Bruce’s Villa are languishing in 16th position in the Championship and will be without key personnel in the search for a much-needed three points.
Defenders Micah Richards, Ritchie De Laet and Tommy Elphick remain absent through injury, whilst Jack Grealish serves the last of his three-match suspension for stamping on Conor Coady during the 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Despite Gary Rowett’s Birmingham being undefeated in their last five home games, Aston Villa can find encouragement from their record in this fixture – where they are unbeaten in their last four league visits to St. Andrew’s (W3 D1).
Steve Bruce is likely to retain the same defensive set-up of goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini behind a centre-back partnership of James Chester and Nathan Baker. The much-improved Jordan Amavi is expected to continue at left-back with the experienced Alan Hutton at right-back.
Gary Gardner and Mile Jedinak will help anchor the midfield, with Bacuna continuing in a more central area to support centre-forward Rudy Gestede.
Winger Albert Adomah has shaken off an ankle problem that had threatened to keep him out of the game and will be tasked with providing Villa with width on their right side.
On the opposite flank, the in-form Jonathan Kodjia may be deployed on the left, but will hope to support Gestede in a central area wherever possible.
This would mean that Jordan Ayew and Ross McCormack may have to settle for roles from the bench.
Here is the predicted Aston Villa lineup in full:
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