Aston Villa’s final game of their tour of Australia and penultimate match of this year’s pre-season comes in the shape of old foes Manchester United this weekend.
Both teams have had an incredibly successful last few months both on and off the field.
Steven Gerrard’s first summer has brought with it a number of high-profile impressive signings such as Diego Carlos, Boubacar Kamara and Philippe Coutinho whilst Erik ten Hag has begun his overall of the Red Devils whilst also getting a real positive tune out of certain members of the current squad.
Villa and United both have 100% win records up to now in their pre-season games so something has to give in this one.
With the claret and blue having just two games remaining before their Premier League opener against Bournemouth, it’s highly likely we’ll start to see exactly what Gerrard is planning in terms of his starting eleven for the trip to the south coast.
He will have some big decisions to make leading up to that game and some could be made for him during this penultimate pre-season clash.
Here’s the starting eleven we think the claret & blue will go with for the game with United and possibly even Bournemouth in two week’s time...
5. LB - Lucas Digne
Had a rough time against Brisbane Roar and will look to impress against United. | Getty Images
6. CDM - Boubacar Kamara
Already looks like an incredibly shrewd signing. A definite starter. | Getty Images
7. CM - Jacob Ramsey
Last year’s star boy will look to cement a place in the XI with a solid performance. Photo: Marc Atkins
8. CM - Douglas Luiz
The addition of Kamara allows Luiz to play further forward and he could be preferred in this role to McGinn. | Getty Images