It’s that time of the week again Vital Villans – Saturday – the weather is irrelevant on days like this but that’s not too bad either.
Aston Villa are at Villa Park as hosts to newly promoted Wigan Athletic for today’s Championship match and we are looking to secure a maximum return of points from our opening two games of the 2018/19 campaign.
Line ups:
Team news: Three debutants for our Villa Park opener this afternoon…
Ørjan Nyland, Axel Tuanzebe and John McGinn all start against @LaticsOfficial.#PartOfThePride #AVFC pic.twitter.com/f9LN5Ac0iH
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 11, 2018
???? TEAM NEWS: Two changes for Latics as @Callum1connolly and @cm_macca come in for Darron Gibson and @Gavinmassey92 who miss out through injury.
???? https://t.co/1jewms8MqD#wafc ????⚪️???? pic.twitter.com/qNE2LSqvLx
— Wigan Athletic (@LaticsOfficial) August 11, 2018
No surprise to see Orjan Nyland take his place between the sticks nor John McGinn make his bow, but Alex Tuanzebe coming in maybe hadn’t been predicted.
Steve Bruce’s line up did cause some talk on social media though as a few fans raised their eyebrows at seeing Conor Hourihane and Tommy Elphick immediately dropped – I’d say Elphick was maybe more of a surprise following his Hull showing.
Looks lazy quite often, needs to know that if his performances aren’t up to scratch he will be benched.
— James Lancaster ???????????????????????? (@jlancaster0902) August 11, 2018
Taylor, Elphick and Whelan all dropped sounds like @LloydyAVFC ‘s wet dream ????
— James⚽ (@McMulkinAV) August 11, 2018
Oh go on Brucey ???? Bang on. UTV
— Matt Lynch (@mattlyynch) August 11, 2018
5-3-2 when we defend and 3-5-2 when we attack
— Jonas ???????? (@ManLikeBirkir) August 11, 2018
Go on McGinn lad. Show them what you’re all about ????
— McGregorHibees (@HibeesMc) August 11, 2018
Because Elphick was out of position a lot and Hourihane disappeared again last week
— George Adey (@GeorgeAdey2) August 11, 2018
Looks like a 4231 to me ????????
— Haz (@nameofx) August 11, 2018
4-3-3 geezer
— Joe (@Joey_AVFC) August 11, 2018
Best line up I’ve seen in a long time…. #avfc
— Mike Anthony (@michaelmeasey) August 11, 2018
Kodjia deserves the chance to find his form. He was very poor last game, but he wasn't exactly provided with much support.
RHM can remain the speedy impact sub for now.
— James Howard-White (@jhowardwhite) August 11, 2018
As long as it brings back all three points nobody will overly care come the end of the game, but good to see Andre Green back in the starting eleven and the continued presence of Rushian Hepburn-Murphy on the bench.
