Aston Villa expected 4-2-3-1 v Forest: Summer signing axed in major overhaul
By Abigail Withey
Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce is expected to axe summer signing Chris Samba from his squad to play Nottingham Forest at Villa Park on Saturday evening.
The Villains made big changes to the team ahead of Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup loss against Middlesbrough and it is highly likely that Bruce will revert his team back to the usual culprits who take part in the competitive Championship fixtures.
Samba is expected to lead the names of players to be dropped from the first-team for the clash with Forest with all 11 starters changed.
After Jed Steer’s appearance in goal on Tuesday, it’s most likely that stopper Sam Johnstone will return to action against Forest with centre-backs James Chester and John Terry in front of him in place of Samba and the suspended Tommy Elphick.
On the left-hand side of defence, Neil Taylor is likely to step back in while Ahmed Elmohamady may slot in the right after a great performance last weekend.
Glenn Whelan and Conor Hourihane will potentially partner up and provide the back bone of Villa’s midfield during their Championship clash as Henri Lansbury looks doubtful to feature.
Robert Snodgrass and Saturday’s double goal scorer Albert Adomah are also expected to appear on the wings at the weekend to add support.
It is expected that the Kienan Davis and Jonathan Kodjia partnership could be back in action after Davis grabbed his first senior goal for Villa in their 3-0 win at Oakwell.
Kodjia will likely be there to replace Scott Hogan who got taken off on Tuesday due to a possible injury.
Steve Bruce will know how vital it is to secure another three points and climb the standings even further as their aim of promotion looks to be slipping out of reach.
In other Aston Villa news, John Terry has hit out on his personal Instagram account after discovering a shocking image.
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