Villa – Man U; What to expect?

I don’t dislike United as much as I have done in the past, mainly because they’re not winning anything. Well, no more than usual anyway, but I do have an intense dislike for playing against them.
It used to be one of the fixtures of the season for me and it probably still is for many, but that was in the days when we used to be able to match them better.
Now, us consistently losing against them has just made the fixture tedious, because I know what’s most likely coming.
Hence, I find it difficult to motivate myself.

Still, we do have a couple of advantages, in that Ten Hag won’t have a clue who our new leader Unai Emery will play or how he will set up.
We also have the new manager bounce too, of course.

Injury news and the good news is that Boubacar Kamara and Ludwig Augustinsson may be available after both trained in the week.
It’s still too early for Diego Carlos, who’s a way off recovering and Emi Martinez wasn’t mentioned either way, so while I’d expect him to be fit, it’s still possible that he might not be ready after his head clash.

As for Utd, Raphael Varane (injured) and Bruno Fernandez (suspended) are both out and Jadon Sancho, Antony and Anthony Martial are all doubts.
Marcus Rashford trained on Friday and should be okay, after tweaking a muscle in their Europa cup game.

So while Ten Hag won’t know what to expect, neither will we, but I’d expect Emery to not change too much and stick with two holding mids in a 4-2-3-1. It would still be Watkins up top, more for his industry rather than his striking skills lately, as I just don’t think Ings offers enough.

It’s strange, but I’m not convinced there was much wrong in last week’s approach, yet players just look devoid of any confidence as soon as things go against them. Emery has to see this as a priority and my guess is he will rid us of “bottlers” and install more character, but that’s further down the line.

If anything, Coutinho shouldn’t start, in my opinion, but you might suspect that the manager will be itching to see such a big name player for himself.
Buendia just offers more industry and at least fights.
You can probably see a bit of a theme in the type of player I like.
I struggle with us losing, but I find it a bit easier to swallow if we’ve at least put some effort in.
It’s probably why I stuck with McGinn and even Watkins so long, to be honest, but I just can’t abide players who don’t seem interested.

Anyway, I’m waffling, so straight to what to think and sadly I think it will be business as usual and Emery will get to see exactly what our weaknesses are.
I would like to think he gets to see that we do have some very decent players and they just need organising properly.
Sadly, I’m guessing it’s more likely that he sees just how big a task he faces.

Cutting to the chase, it’s a cautious approach then and I’d actually be okay with a draw today. I think if we go too gung ho, they’ll have too much for us.

Unfortunately, I don’t see us getting a draw.
It’s a 1-2 defeat and knowing Utd, probably a late winner.
Not much change then.

Here’s hoping we’re at least on the up!