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Predicted XI for Aston Villa's Carabao Cup clash with Bournemouth
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- Predicted XI for Aston Villa's Carabao Cup clash with Bournemouth
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What team will Unai Emery pick for Aston Villa against Bournemouth?
I think this is probably the strongest squad Unai Emery has had at Aston Villa, certainly in terms of depth, and Wednesday night's trip to Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup is a good opportunity to see exactly what that looks like when he makes significant changes to his starting eleven.
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We've had some brilliant teams under Emery, including the side that qualified for the Champions League and obviously the one that went on to win the Europa League last season, but I'm not convinced we've ever had quite as many good players competing for places as we have now. There have been times in previous seasons when you could look at Villa's strongest eleven and feel confident about taking on anybody, but once you started making four or five changes, there was a noticeable difference in quality.
I remember when Emery first arrived and we were making changes for cup games, with Robin Olsen coming into goal and Ludwig Augustinsson playing at left-back. Good times.
There will probably be eight or nine changes from the Manchester City game, and I'm looking at the players who could come in thinking that it's still a very good Premier League team. You've got experienced internationals, players who have cost considerable money and others who have already contributed to some really good performances this season, despite not necessarily being regular starters.
I also think the circumstances are quite different to when Villa played Coventry in the previous round. We'd just lost to Nottingham Forest, hadn't won in the Premier League and there was a lot of uncertainty about how quickly this new group of players would come together. We're going into Bournemouth having beaten Manchester City, with confidence running through the squad and quite a few players who aren't starting every week still getting regular football because of the number of competitions we're involved in.
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Ibrahim Mbaye is a good example because he's made an impact in his recent appearances, whether that's been from the bench or starting in the Champions League, and Alysson has also shown what he can offer over the last few weeks. These aren't players who are coming into the team having barely kicked a ball for two months, which is important when you're asking them to perform in a difficult away cup tie.
And then there's Leon Goretzka, who I've been talking about for weeks, wondering when we're finally going to see him properly involved. We're nearly into November and he could be making his first start for Aston Villa, which is quite remarkable when you consider his experience and the fact that Villa haven't particularly missed him because of how well others have been performing.
I expect Emery to rotate heavily, and this is the team I think he'll go with.
Predicted Aston Villa XI vs Bournemouth
Formation:4-2-3-1
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Goalkeeper:Bizot
Defence:Bogarde, Harwood-Bellis, Mings (C), Maatsen
Midfield:Gomes, Goretzka
Attacking midfield:Mbaye, Barkley, Buendía
Striker:Abraham
Substitutes: Suzuki, Cash, Lindelöf, McGinn, Kamara, Hemmings, Garnacho, Alysson, Madjo.
There are a few selections I'm particularly interested in, starting with Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who has found himself a long way down the pecking order and has struggled to even make the bench at times. He's not really done anything wrong, he's just found himself in a situation where other players have been performing well, and this is exactly the sort of game where he needs to remind Emery that he's available.
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I'd also like to see Goretzka get a proper run alongside João Gomes, who I thought was Villa's best player against Brentford and has continued to grow into his role. It would be interesting to see how the two work together, particularly with Barkley playing slightly further forward, where he's capable of getting involved in the attacking side of the game.
I think Mbaye deserves another start given his recent contributions, while Buendía is another player who has enough quality to make an impact against Premier League opposition. He's not going to be first choice in the strongest version of this Villa side, but we're talking about a player who has been an important part of the squad under Emery and is more than capable of doing a job in a game like this.
I've gone with Tammy Abraham up front rather than Brian Madjo, although I wouldn't be surprised if Emery went the other way. Abraham scored twice against Coventry in the previous round, and I wonder whether Emery might look at him as his domestic cup striker, particularly given the decision to include him in the Champions League squad ahead of Madjo.
I've had my reservations about Abraham since he returned to Villa, but he's a very good finisher when opportunities fall to him, and I thought his movement for the first goal against Coventry was excellent. If he's done enough to earn another start in this competition, I've got no problem with that, although I would like to see Madjo get a decent amount of football at some stage.
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The bench I've selected is another indication of what I'm talking about with the depth of the squad. Garnacho, Alysson and Madjo are all players who can change a game, while you've got McGinn, Kamara, Lindelöf and Cash available if Emery feels he needs to bring on some of his more established players.
I don't think this will be an easy game by any stretch of the imagination because Bournemouth are in excellent form themselves, and they've got a very good squad that will allow them to make changes without completely sacrificing the quality of their team. They've been defending particularly well recently, and with both clubs playing so much football, I suspect we'll see two quite different sides to the ones that have been playing in the Premier League.
But Villa are in a position now where they should be looking at this competition as a genuine opportunity. Win on Wednesday and you're in the quarter-finals, and although I don't think the Carabao Cup is particularly high on Emery's list of priorities at the moment, I suspect that changes once you're within touching distance of another semi-final.
For me, the biggest positive going into this game is that I can pick a team with the majority of Villa's regular starters missing and still feel confident that it's capable of winning at a difficult Premier League ground. I don't think we've been able to say that consistently during Emery's time at the club, and given the amount of football we're going to be playing between now and the end of the season, having that strength beyond the first eleven could prove extremely valuable.
