The games come thick and fast in the Championship and Villa travel to Barnsley on Saturday evening hoping to get back to winning ways.
Thanks to their 1 win, 4 draws and 2 losses from their opening seven matches, Villa find themselves sitting 18th in the table with just 7 points, already a sizeable 10 points adrift of Leeds at the top of the table.
Therefore, this makes this next match against Barnsley a must win if Villa are to have any realistic hope of challenging for promotion come the end of the season. Being a possible 13 points behind the leaders after 8 games of the season is not what any Villa fan would have envisioned at the beginning of August.
This game has added importance to Bruce as another poor result here could see him be relieved of his duties.
Barnsley currently also have 7 points, but they have played one less game than Villa.
Here’s our predicted XI for Saturday’s match away to Barnsley.
GK: Sam Johnstone
Has been on top of his game recently and will definitely start this one.
RB: Ahmed Elmohamady
Bruce played Elmohamdy in this position against Middlesbrough, and he’ll probably do the same on Saturday.
CB: John Terry
Villa’s captain will definitely be starting on Saturday afternoon.
CB: James Chester
Is starting to form a good partnership with John Terry, and Bruce won’t want to split them up.
LB: Neil Taylor
As Villa’s only senior left-back, it’s hard to see Taylor not starting this one.
RM: Robert Snodgrass
Showed glimpses of his talent against Middlesbrough on Tuesday night, and we expect Bruce to stick with him this weekend.
CM: Mile Jedinak
Was off the pace on Tuesday after a long injury, but the only way he’s going to overcome this is with game time.
CM: Conor Hourihane
Has been in good form lately, and was unlucky not to add to his goal tally on Tuesday night. He will definitely be starting against his old club on Saturday.
CM: Josh Onomah
Missed the Middlesbrough game due to injury, but is expected to be fit for this one. If so, he should replace Lansbury even if his red card is rescinded.
LM: Albert Adomah
Came on in the second half against Middlesbrough and showed everyone that he should be starting ahead of Bjarnason.
ST: Keinan Davis
Although Kodjia is back, it’s unlikely that he will start as he has played just over an hour of football this season. We reckon Bruce will give Keinan Davis another shot.