Aston Villa Match Preview

Sixteen days after Graham Potter saw his team suffer an early exit from the Emirates FA Cup by losing 2-1 to Aston Villa, he heads back to Villa Park for a second crack at Unai Emery’s Villans this afternoon and he will be hoping to get his first victory on the road since he took over the Hammers’ hotseat from former Head-Coach Julen Lopetegui on 10 January.

As this weekend sees the reverse games of the opening round of fixtures take place, Potter will want to do better than his predecessor as well as atone for the result here earlier in the month by grabbing a crucial three points.

The results for the home side since they made it consecutive FA Cup third-round exits for the Irons, have been largely positive, as previous outcomes following their continental exploits, haven’t exactly pleased the home fans. Given that they are back in European action on Wednesday night, then Potter’s men may fancy their chances of picking up a much-needed result.

The visitors will be the fresher of the two sides going into this encounter, as Potter has finally had a full week to work with his new squad at Rush Green and he will want them to bounce back after the 2-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace eight days ago.

Aaron Cresswell made his 300th Club appearance in that game and he may well retain his place here, given that Konstantinos Mavropanos will serve a one-match ban, owing to the two bookings he received in the second-half against the Eagles in Stratford last weekend.

Potter stated in his pre-match news conference ahead of this game on Friday that both Captain Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville are both back in training but will have to be assessed.

However, it is the former Leeds United winger who has the best chance of coming back into the starting line-up and if he is deemed fit enough then it will be his first involvement since starting here sixteen days ago.

The match is a 4:30pm kick-off with live coverage being screened by Sky Sports from 4pm. The referee is Peter Bankes.