International break is over, so we now return to the Premier League and up next for Dean Smith’s men is a home match against West Ham on Monday evening.
Villa are currently sitting in the relegation zone, but it is still early doors and Smith will be pleased by some of the football that his side have played this season.
If truth be told, they were poor against Crystal Palace, but they still should have picked up a point from that game. The fact that they didn’t was only down to Kevin Friend dishing out one of the worst refereeing decisions that you will ever see on a football field.
Anyway, the players will have put that injustice behind them and will be concentrating solely on putting in a performance on Monday that is good enough to see them pick up a very important three points.
Here is our predicted Villa XI for Monday’s game against West Ham:
GK: Tom Heaton
Has made a number of fine saves this season and will definitely be starting on Monday evening.
RB: Frederic Guilbert
The Frenchman is clearly Villa’s best right-back and we expect to see him start against West Ham.
CB: Tyrone Mings
Was reported to have a slight groin strain while on international duty this week, but that shouldn’t keep him out of Monday’s game.
CB: Bjorn Engels
Engels has formed a great partnership with Mings and Smith won’t want to break it up.
LB: Neil Taylor
Taylor, to his credit, has been very solid in the opening four games and deserves another start on Monday.
RM: Jota
Probably Villa’s best winger, so we expect to see him in the starting XI on Monday.
CM: Douglas Luiz
Provides Villa’s defence with some extra cover, so we reckon he will start against a dangerous West Ham outfit.
CM: John McGinn
McGinn is Villa’s most hard-working player, and he definitely won’t be dropped for Monday’s game against West Ham.
CM: Jack Grealish
As one of Villa’s more skillful players and their captain, Grealish will definitely be starting against West Ham.
LM: Anwar El Ghazi
With Trezeguet suspended, we expect to see El Ghazi start on the left flank.
ST: Wesley Moraes
Moraes will almost certainly be leading the line on Monday evening.