Buendia decision forces system change: Aston Villa predicted XI vs Arsenal

West Ham brought to an end Villa’s three game win streak and in doing so may have brought to an end the two up top system.

Aston Villa need to put the disappointment of the 2-1 defeat to West Ham United behind them quickly with Arsenal next up at Villa Park on Saturday lunchtime.

The loss at the London Stadium brought to an end the three game winning streak of Villa’s - a period which saw them score nine goals without reply.

During that time and including the defeat to West Ham, Steven Gerrard had moved to a system that allowed both Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins to play in the same side.

We saw 4-1-2-1-2, 4-3-1-2 and a couple of others with certain tweaks here and there.

Whilst it did for the most part bring good results and performances with it, one negative it certainly brought was the fact it left a number of the talented flare midfielders / not natural forwards on the bench including record signing Emiliano Buendia.

Buendia, up until his rotation out of the eleven had arguably been Villa’s best player - certainly in forward areas.

The Argentine was brought on during the game at the London Stadium with Villa trailing 2-0 and was key in getting the team back into it, laying Jacob Ramsey off for that consolation strike.

Gerrard says he’s been the best player in training in recent weeks and now the claret & blue have once again tasted defeat, it may be the perfect time to bring the 25-year-old back into the squad.

There will be of course one enforced change due to Lucas Digne’s unfortunate injury but away from that, it could prove an interesting line-up for the visit of the Gunners.

With all that in mind, here’s the eleven we believe Gerrard will field to get the job done on Saturday.

During that time and including the defeat to West Ham, Steven Gerrard had moved to a system that allowed both Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins to play in the same side.

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