Aston Villa’s final game prior to the 2022/23 Premier League season getting underway comes on Saturday evening when they travel to France to take on Ligue 1 side, Rennes.
The claret & blue have had an unbeaten pre-season schedule to date and showed character to keep that run going most recently when they came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Manchester United in Perth.
There’s been plenty of experimentation among the side as is expected in pre-season but the last couple of games in particular have started to show a real blueprint of what we could expect from Steven Gerrard when his men line-up against Bournemouth a week on Saturday.
New signings Boubacar Kamara and Diego Carlos have settled in nicely whilst more familiar faces in Leon Bailey and Cameron Archer have impressed.
Just this past week we’ve seen Tyrone Mings stripped of the captaincy in favour of John McGinn in a move that could again hint at certain players being favoured in certain positions.
Rennes will provide the final test ahead of the real stuff getting underway and the eleven that start may well be the eleven that suit up on the south coast in one week’s time.
With that in mind, here’s the team in full that we think will get the nod in France.
There’s been plenty of experimentation among the side as is expected in pre-season but the last couple of games in particular have started to show a real blueprint of what we could expect from Steven Gerrard when his men line-up against Bournemouth a week on Saturday.
5. LB - Lucas Digne
Has the potential to be huge for Villa this season.
6. CDM - Boubacar Kamara
Nailed on starter and has already made a significant difference pre-season.
7. CM - John McGinn
The new captain. Would be hard not to see him feature regularly now.
8. CM - Douglas Luiz
Made a difference when brought on against United. Better now that he’s got Kamara behind.