Aston Villa team news v West Ham: Ross Barkley starts and Youri Tielemans decision made
Manager Unai Emery has named his team for Aston Villa’s Premier League match against West Ham United this afternoon.
Villa take on West Ham knowing that all the teams around them have already dropped points. Evidence suggests that isn’t much of an advantage for this Villa team, but the opportunity is there nonetheless.
Emery has been able to make some changes to his line-up, with Villa’s injury list now down to just Boubacar Kamara.
Matty Cash has been selected on the right side of a defence that also features Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne. The attacking three remains the same after a positive showing in the Europa League round of 16 second leg against Lille on Thursday.
Ollie Watkins, whose performance was also encouraging, is restored to the starting line-up as expected.
Midfield is healing
Crucially, Emery now has enough midfield players to actually make some decisions about who plays in the double pivot. John McGinn continues further upfield but the return of Ross Barkley and Youri Tielemans means that a guaranteed starter from two weeks ago, Douglas Luiz, is now on the bench.
Lamare Bogarde is there too after a spell as Cash’s right-back understudy, which means that there are three central midfielders in reserve this afternoon.
Barkley links up in the starting eleven with Amadou Onana, who will presumably be rested sooner rather than later now it’s a possibility.
Villa team news in full
Starting XI: Martínez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, Barkley, Onana, McGinn, Sancho, Rogers, Watkins
Substitutes: Bizot, Maatsen, Bogarde, Mings, Tielemans, Luiz, Buendía, Bailey, Abraham
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