Aston Villa have opted to bring only three players who featured at the FIFA World Cup earlier this month in the squad for their Asian Tour this weekend.
Aston Villa have reportedly arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia, and are getting ready for their pre-season match against the Indonesian All-Stars tomorrow. Unai Emery’s side landed last night. They are currently holding their first training session to get accustomed to the pitch at the GBK Stadium, which will host tomorrow evening’s match. Their next game will be in Thailand three days later.
On their first-ever tour of the region, Villa have understandably not brought all of their first-team stars. In fact, among the players called up for the FIFA World Cup in North America, only three have travelled with the squad to Asia. They are John McGinn, Victor Lindelof and Evann Guessand, who have joined a squad largely made up of youth and reserve players.
Based on a report by Antara, Indonesia’s national news agency, the entire squad trained this afternoon at 1 p.m. local time. The training session was only open to the media for 15 minutes, as the Spanish boss wanted his team to train without disturbance.
Several key players were seen on the pitch, including Tyrone Mings, Matty Cash, new signings Joao Gomes, Alejandro Garnacho and Marco Bizot, as well as youngster George Hemmings, who scored against Real Sociedad in the last outing.
Emery seems to have left out a number of stars who featured in the latter stages of the World Cup. The likes of Ezri Konsa, Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martinez, Amadou Onana and new signing Johan Manzambi are not part of the squad due to extended rest periods and injury recovery, while Leon Bailey has been left out as he is in the process of negotiating a move to Hull City.
The Aston Villa boss is likely to field every player in the squad, giving each of them around 45 minutes of action, just as he did in the previous three friendlies against Walsall, FC Porto and Real Sociedad.
Martinez’s deputy, Marco Bizot, is likely to get the nod in the starting XI. At the back, Modou Cisse and probably Pau Torres should start ahead of Tyrone Mings, who started the previous two matches. Meanwhile, Ian Maatsen and Matty Cash are expected to operate on the flanks.
In midfield, Lamare Bogarde and Joao Gomes should begin the game as the double pivot ahead of John McGinn, while Victor Lindelof could come off the bench in the second half. Further forward, the attacking line is expected to include Emiliano Buendia, George Hemmings, Bradley Burrowes and Tammy Abraham, who should lead the line.
Emery is expected to introduce Alejandro Garnacho after the interval alongside Ross Barkley and the young striker who has stolen the show during pre-season, Brian Madjo. The 17-year-old forward will have to wait until January next year to make his official debut in a competitive match due to FIFA regulations regarding the international transfer of players under the age of 18.
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