Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard has some huge decisions to make ahead of Villa’s derby clash with Wolves on Saturday afternoon.
With a near fully fit squad to choose from, the former Liverpool captain has a fair few selection headaches in front of him.
In recent weeks we’ve seen the claret & blue utilise both Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins as a pairing and whilst that has worked well for the most part, it has come at the expense of other key men like Emiliano Buendia.
For Saturday’s game, we may see a revert away from the two up front.
Bruno Lage loves his Wolves team to play possession based football and control the midfield and if Villa allow them to do that, they could be in trouble.
The positive news from a Villa perspective is the loss of the influential Ruben Neves from the black and gold side of things but they still have the ability to control play if Gerrard’s men allow them to.
Taking that into account, a 4-2-3-1 formation could be on the cards. We’ve seen it on a couple of occasions so far and playing this way should allow the claret and blue to take control of areas they can ill afford to lose.
With that in mind, here’s the starting eleven we feel the gaffer may go with for the huge game at Molineux.
1. GK - Emi Martinez
Fresh off the back of no international fixtures due to the ban imposed by FIFA - Martinez should be raring to go.
2. RB - Matty Cash
Hopefully he isn’t still nursing a hangover following Poland’s World Cup qualification.
3. CB - Tyrone Mings
Should be full of confidence after another international goal and clean sheet for England.
4. CB - Ezri Konsa
A recall for Konsa after a short spell out of the side.