Dean Smith suffered his first defeat following his appointment as Aston Villa manager when his side were beaten 2-1 by Norwich City at Carrow Road. The Villans need to bounce back strongly in their next Championship fixture when they take on Queens Park Rangers away from home.
Villa have managed just one win in their last five games in all competitions but do have a better head to head record against QPR. In the last 10 meetings between the two sides, Villa have picked up four wins, four draws, and lost just two games.
Aston Villa Team News
Keinan Davis is back in training and is in line to feature. Albert Adomah hobbled off the pitch with a knee injury in the last game and question marks linger on his availability. Tammy Abraham should be fine after he sustained a knock to the head in the last fixture.
Predicted Aston Villa Lineup (4-4-1-1)
Defence
Orjan Nyland is expected to start under the bar once again. He was average against Daniel Farke’s men after his fine show against Swansea City and needs to bring in a bit of consistency to his game.
James Chester and Axel Tuanzebe could be the preferred centre-half pairing. Tuanzebe has raw pace and he uses his height well to excel in aerial duels. On an average, Chester has mustered 7.5 clearances and 0.9 tackles per game. Needless to say, he needs to get his tackling rate up.
We expect Alan Hutton to continue plying his trade at right-back while Neil Taylor could start as the left-back.
Midfield
Glenn Whelan had a good game against Norwich City as he played a few precise passes. He is set to start in the central midfield once again. Alongside him, we expect John McGinn starting instead of Conor Hourihane after the former’s return from suspension.
Ahmed El Mohamady has thrived on the right side of midfield and the Egyptian should keep his place. He has scored two goals and registered four assists so far this term.
Yannick Bolasie could get his first start of the season as Adomah might not be fit in time.
Attack
Abraham might recover before the game but we expect Scott Hogan to start against Steve McLaren’s side.
Central attacking midfielder Jack Grealish, with just one assist in 14 appearances, has been far from his best. His output needs to improve if Villa are to improve their results and league position
Statistics Credits: WhoScored