Duo axed in Bruce 4-4-2: Aston Villa best possible XI to face Nottingham Forest
By Matt Farr
Steve Bruce should resort to a traditional 4-4-2 formation and name two strikers for Aston Villa’s upcoming clash with Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The Villa chief should make just two personnel changes to his line-up, with Neil Taylor and Scott Hogan coming in to the side following the 3-0 defeat to Brentford on Tuesday.
Jordan Amavi and Andre Green should be the two players that make way, with nine players retaining their places.
Sam Johnstone, Nathan Baker, James Chester and Alan Hutton should all retain their places in the back-four, despite Aston Villa’s woeful defensive display last time-out.
Johnstone has done a decent job since taking the No.1 jersey in January, while trio Chester, Baker and Hutton have been regular performers this season.
Amavi, meanwhile, could consider himself unlucky to be axed, but Bruce cannot pass up the opportunity to add further experience to his defence in the form of debutant Taylor.
After being deployed as an attacking-midfielder against Brentford, Lansbury should drop back into a deeper, central midfield role alongside Hourihane.
That leaves Bjarnason and Adomah as the wider players in the 4-4-2, where they will have more of an influence in the defensive-third than perhaps they would normally in Bruce’s traditional 4-2-3-1 formation.
Hogan, meanwhile, should partner Kodjia in attack as Aston Villa seek to end their ongoing woes in front of goal. Nottingham Forest can be exploited defensively, and Villa need to prove to themselves that they do have goals in them.
The former Brentford striker has been an impressive form in the Championship so far this season, and if he can hit the ground running with goal against Forest, it will be a major boost to Aston Villa’s promotion hopes.
A win would end Villa’s run of five games without a victory, and it could send them within seven points of the play-offs.
Defeat, however, could see them drop as low as 19th – provided results elsewhere also go against them.
In other Aston Villa team news, fans have reacted on Twitter after Rushian Hepburn-Murphy landed a new deal.
We’ve launched an << EXCLUSIVE TRANSFER WINDOW NEWS FEED>>. ‘Like Us’ on Facebook by clicking here if you want 24/7 updates on all Aston Villa transfer news