support

Thu 13 April 2017 17:22, UK

By Amir Mir

Aston Villa should make three changes to the side that takes on promotion hopefuls Reading in the Championship on Saturday afternoon.

Jaap Stam’s side will travel to Villa Park looking to secure a much-needed three points after their 7-1 thumping at the hands of Norwich last time out.

For Steve Bruce, he should bring in Andre Green, Jack Grealish and Gary Gardner for this match in place of Jordan Amavi, Henri Lansbury and Leonardo Bacuna.

The fixture list is beginning to pile up with Villa playing the Royals on Saturday and only Fulham two days later followed by the all-important match with Birmingham on April 23.

As a result, Bruce needs to start rotating, but he should stick with star man Jonathan Kodjia up top, who went off injured with a dead leg against Burton last Saturday.

Out wide, Andre Green and Albert Adomah should be given the opportunity to create and cause havoc at the opposition defence – they are the best attacking options on the flanks.

Added with the trio of Jack Grealish, Gary Gardner and Mile Jedinak playing in the middle of the park.

England under-21 international Grealish should play further up the field with the strength and hard work of Gardner and Jedinak in behind him.

At the back, Bruce should stick with the same back four that has been working wonders in recent weeks as Villa aim to secure their sixth win on the bounce on home soil.

It would mean that four academy players in, Green, Grealish, Gardner and Nathan Baker, would start with the likes of Rushian Hepburn-Murphy on the wings.

With promotion out of the window, Bruce must start giving more youngsters from the academies chances so they can lay their marker for the next campaign.

In other Aston Villa news, the club have been handed a major injury boost ahead of their clash against Reading.

We’ve launched a << BREAKING NEWS FEED>> exclusively for your club. ‘Like Us’ on Facebook by clicking here if you want 24/7 updates on all Aston Villa breaking news.