With each passing draw or defeat, Aston Villa are slipping farther and farther away from a coveted play-off position.
As things stand, Dean Smith’s men currently sit in 13th place, 8 points behind Bristol City in 6th (who also have a game in hand). With 12 games remaining, Villa can still mathematically make it into the top 6, but if that gap turns into double figures, it’s hard to see them being able to claw it back.
Next up for Villa is a home match against Frank Lampard’s Derby, who are 7th in the table and two points outside the play-offs. The last time that these two sides met, Villa scored 3 goals in the final 15 minutes to walk away with a 3-0 win.
We are not expecting a similar scoreline this time around, but Smith will be buoyed by the return of Jack Grealish, who has been out for the last few months with a shin injury.
Villa have missed him greatly, so they will be hoping that his return will help them go on a positive run of results that could see them break into the top six before the season ends.
Here is our predicted Villa XI for the game against Derby at the weekend:
