West Ham United v Aston Villa: team news, predicted line-up and match preview

Aston Villa have presented themselves with a perfect opportunity to get their Premier League form back on track against West Ham United on Sunday.

Villa won the second leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie against Lille in fine fashion. Over the two legs as a whole, they played the task really well. Thursday’s 2-0 win at Villa Park was just the ticket, taking Villa into the last eight of a European competition for the third successive season and, we hope, boosting the mood ahead of the next Premier League fixture.

Manager Unai Emery and his team got another lift on Friday. Manchester United were in third place ahead of Villa in fourth at the start of the weekend’s action and dropped two points at AFC Bournemouth, giving Villa the incentive of a win closing the gap.

Return of the Meatball

Thursday’s win over Lille was the first match at Villa Park since the return of John McGinn from injury. The Villa captain went down in the home defeat against Everton in the middle of January and missed almost two months of football.

Villa will need to find a way to exist without McGinn sooner rather than later, but in the here and now it’s extremely clear that he’s vital to the team.

While the two central midfielders who’ve been in the treatment room are important in specific and tangible ways, the impact of the loss of McGinn is arguably less about what’s measurable than what’s instinctive.

We know McGinn’s a top player. We know he’s a leader. We know he’s Villa’s beating heart. We know he’ll protect the ball, progress it, stick it in the net. We don’t need to count all this to know that taking it out of the side is going to be detrimental, and so it proved.

McGinn led the team out at home on Thursday, played well, and scored a crucial goal. It was like he’d never been away. More please, Meatball.

Villa team news

Emery is all set for a surprise injury development, with Youri Tielemans back in full training ahead of schedule and could be available for this game. He’ll be assessed before a decision is made but has been included in Belgium’s latest international squad.

Thus Villa have an almost clean bill of health. Boubacar Kamara is done for the season but it’s possible that everyone else is available on Sunday.

Ross Barkley and Alysson are included in that. They’re not in the Europa League squad and missed out against Lille, but will surely return to the matchday squad for this Premier League fixture.

Villa predicted line-up v West Ham

With injured players now mostly back or close to it, Emery has some choices to make against West Ham on Sunday.

Ollie Watkins looked sharp of the bench against Lille and will presumably be reinstated up front, while I’m going to hazard a guess that the supporting trio will stay the same too. How exactly they line up and operate is a little trickier to predict.

Matty Cash and Ezri Konsa will come back into the side after they were rested in midweek. Two clean sheets against Lille could rubberstamp Pau Torres‘ claim to start this game alongside the England centre-back.

Tielemans’ status isn’t yet known but I think we’ll see an unchanged midfield pairing regardless.

Where to watch Villa v West Ham

Villa’s home game against West Ham will be available to watch on Sky Sports Premier League.

Read more
➡️ How to watch Aston Villa v West Ham United in the UK: kick-off time, live streams and TV channels

The post West Ham United v Aston Villa: team news, predicted line-up and match preview appeared first on AVillaFan.com – Aston Villa Fan Site.