Aston Villa are in FA Cup action this weekend as they play Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.
Unai Emery suffered a 2-1 defeat to Stevenage at this stage of the competition in 2023 and will be hopeful that his side can avoid an upset in the North East on Saturday, January 7. Boro come in to the game on the back of a 3-1 defeat to Coventry City on New Year's Day and are currently 12th in the Championship.
Villa have a pretty decent record against their opponents and have won four out of the last five meetings. The last time the two sides played was in March 2019 and that was a 3-0 win at Villa Park with Anwar El Ghazi, current Villain John McGinn and Albert Adomah on target.
It's likely that Unai Emery will consider making a raft of changes for this tie, and their depth should be enough to defeat Boro who might also consider a change of personnel. The Championship side have a Carabao Cup semi-final to look forward to next week, and whilst there is a lot of history behind the FA Cup, Boro will want to put themselves in the best position to progress in the other competition.
The FA Cup comes at a time when the Africa Cup of Nations and Asia Cup are due to start, with both clubs affected. Several players have now departed for international duty, and will be unavailable for selection this weekend.
Here's the latest injury and team news ahead of the meeting at the Riverside Stadium. It could include a potential debut for Boro's new £2.5m signing who joined from Aston Villa.