Abraham unavailable, Guessand starts – Aston Villa starting XI vs RB Salzburg predicted
Unai Emery has a few selection headaches ahead of Aston Villa’s clash against RB Salzburg on Thursday
Evann Guessand of Aston Villa(Image: James Marsh/Shutterstock)
Aston Villa end their Europa League league phase campaign on Thursday night against RB Salzburg.
After beating Fenerbahce 1-0 in Istanbul last week, Villa climbed into the top two of the league-phase table as FC Midtjylland drew 3-3 at Brann.
Unai Emery’s side have won six of their seven matches in Europe this season, with their only failure coming against Go Ahead Eagles, who inflicted a shock defeat on Villa in Deventer.
Villa come into the game on the back of a 2-0 win at Newcastle United, though not without consequence, as Youri Tielemans became the latest midfielder to suffer an injury.
The Belgian is expected to be sidelined for around two months with an ankle problem, while John McGinn will not return until March.
Boubacar Kamara is also ruled out for the remainder of the season, so Villa have moved to recruit Douglas Luiz on loan, with that deal expected to be finalised shortly.
Tammy Abraham, who returned to the club earlier this week, will not be available against Salzburg, as Villa can only register three new players for the knockout rounds.
Emi Martinez will be the first-choice goalkeeper, possibly with a defence of Matty Cash, Victor Lindelof, Tyrone Mings and Lucas Digne in front of him.
In midfield, Lamare Bogarde is expected to partner Amadou Onana – a pairing that could also start against Brentford at the weekend.
In attack, Ollie Watkins is the only recognised striker in the squad and could be supported by Evann Guessand, Jadon Sancho and Morgan Rogers.
Predicted Villa XI: Martinez; Cash, Lindelof, Mings, Digne; Bogarde, Onana; Guessand, Rogers, Sancho; Watkins.
