Aston Villa will take on Middlesbrough in the Championship on Tuesday evening, and the players owe their fans a performance after their dire showing against Brentford on Saturday afternoon.
In his post-match interview, Bruce described the performance as one of the worst he has seen since he has been at the club, and most Villa fans will find it extremely hard to disagree with him.
Villa barely created a decent chance the whole match, and if it weren’t for some heroics by Johnstone in goal, they’d have lost that game quite comfortably. In the end, Brentford left Villa Park wondering how they had only managed to pick up a solitary point.
Therefore, Bruce will be demanding a big response from his team, although there’s likely to be quite a few changes from the side that put in such a lacklustre effort at the weekend.
Here’s our predicted Villa XI for tomorrow’s match.
ST: Scott Hogan
With Kodjia still yet to get back to full fitness, we can see Hogan being given the nod.
LM: Birkir Bjarnason
We reckon Bjarnason will be given a start tomorrow as Green is injured.
CM: Robert Snodgrass
With Onomah suffering from a muscle injury, we believe that Bruce will play Snodgrass in the centre of the park on Tuesday evening.
CM: Conor Hourihane
Has been in decent form lately, and we reckon Bruce will play him on Tuesday with the hope that he can create some chances against a decent Middlesbrough side.
CM: Mile Jedinak
Is fit again and is chomping at the bit to get back on the field. Should definitely be given the chance to get some match fitness in this match.
RM: Albert Adomah
Wasn’t involved on Saturday, and with Elmohamady being out of sorts, we reckon Adomah will start against his old club.
RB: Ritche De Laet
Has played barely any football in the past year, so we think Bruce will give him this match to improve his fitness.
CB: John Terry
As captain, it’s hard to see Terry being left out for this one.
CB: James Chester
Chester is likely to be given the nod at the back.
LB: Neil Taylor
Taylor is likely to keep his place out on the left hand side of defence.
GK: Sam Johnstone
After his heroics at the weekend, there’s no way Johnstone will be dropped for this one.