With Villa now out of the League Cup and the FA Cup they can now concentrate fully on the small matter of trying to finish in one of the four play-off positions so that they have a chance of gaining promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Being as they are 7 points adrift of the 6th and final play-off position as it stands, it is imperative that they go on a bit of a winning streak, and what better way to start than at the Molineux Stadium on Saturday evening.
Wolves currently sit 6 points behind Villa in 16th place, but they have been in some decent form as of late, having picked up 2 wins and a draw from their last 4 matches.
Not only is it a derby, but the match has an added attraction considering that Wolves are now managed by ex-Villa manager Paul Lambert.
Here is our predicted starting XI for the match against Wolves on Saturday evening.
GK: Sam Johnstone
Was very good at the weekend against Spurs and we reckon Bruce will reward him with another start this weekend.
RB: Alan Hutton
Unless we sign a new right back this January, Hutton, due to our lack of options, is going to be playing game after game after game.
CB: James Chester
Chester put in another great shift at the weekend and is one of the first names on the team sheet at the moment.
CB: Nathan Baker
Has formed a brilliant partnership with Chester and the defence looks a lot less sturdy when the two aren’t playing together. It would be surprising not to see Chester start this weekend.
LB: Jordan Amavi
Has been having a good season so far and will definitely start on Saturday. Even if he was severely out of form, he’d still be starting due to our lack of left back options at the moment.
RM: Albert Adomah
We always look a lot more threatening going forward when Adomah is playing. The reason for this is that he always looks to go forward and he has the ability to swing in some decent crosses.
CM: Mile Jedinak
Jedinak adds some much needed steel and nous to our midfield, and it imperative that he starts when his is fit.
CM: Aaron Tshibola
Played well in his last two games and seems to complement Jedinak well. Begs the question though – Why wasn’t he given a chance earlier, especially considering how poor Westwood has been?
LM: Jack Grealish
Hasn’t been at his best lately, but there is no doubt that he is a talented player. Should start on Saturday as I reckon he could cause Wolves some problems.
ST: Gabby Agbonlahor
I don’t really rate him, but Bruce seems to think he offers something, so he will probably be starting again this weekend – especially since we are a bit light up front at the moment. To add to this, he usually does pretty well in derby matches.
ST: Ross McCormack
With Kodjia absent for the next 3-4 weeks the responsibility of scoring the goals that will move us up the table will fall firmly at McCormack’s feet (unless we sign a new striker). Let’s just hope he can deliver.