Gerrard to persist with two up top, no place for Buendia: Aston Villa predicted XI vs Southampton

Aston Villa managed to get their first win of February in the final game of the month when they knocked off Brighton & Hove Albion last time out.

The 2-0 victory at the Amex was much needed after a frustrating few weeks for the claret & blue which saw them fail to hit the heights they had done during the opening games of Steven Gerrard’s tenure.

It took a brave call from the scouser ahead of the game too.

Emiliano Buendia dropped to the bench despite arguably being Villa’s most creative outlet in recent weeks and he did so in favour of the strike partnership of Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings - a partnership that has hardly flourished during the first half of the campaign.

But his decision paid off as both played a pivotal part in the win with Watkins even getting on the score-sheet for the first time in 2022.

Gerrard made the revelation ahead of the Southampton game that he doesn’t want to keep playing one or the other when it comes to Watkins and Ings, hinting at yet another start for the pair for the visit of the Saints.

Where does this leave Buendia, though? A man that was seemingly getting better and better every week until dropping to the bench.

Big calls yet again await the former Liverpool captain and here’s the eleven we think he will go with as Villa look to make it back-to-back wins on Saturday.