{"id":48944,"date":"2021-08-13T21:19:39","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T10:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/astonvilla.co.uk\/watford-vs-aston-villa-match-preview\/"},"modified":"2021-08-25T23:33:35","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T12:33:35","slug":"watford-vs-aston-villa-match-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/astonvilla.co.uk\/watford-vs-aston-villa-match-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Watford vs Aston Villa: Match Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"
Aston Villa return to Premier League action on Saturday as they start with a trip to Vicarage Road to face the Hornets.<\/p>\n
Dean Smith\u2019s side has experienced an interesting pre-season with wins against Walsall, Bristol City and most recently against the newly promoted Serie A outfit Salernitana. A loss to Stoke City was the only negative result however, games against Nottingham Forest and Sevilla were both cancelled due to COVID outbreaks. An all too obvious reminder of the absence from grounds that fans have faced for so long.<\/p>\n
Saturday afternoon will see Watford return to the Premier League at the first time of asking since their relegation in the 2019\/20 season. Xisco Munoz guided his men to second place and a subsequent automatic promotion place as they finished six points behind Norwich City and four points clear of Brentford in the first playoff spot.<\/p>\n
Watford started their pre-season build up with a win over Colchester and suffered losses to Brentford and Crystal Palace either side of two draws with West Bromwich Albion and Stevenage.<\/p>\n
For Aston Villa, it presents itself as a fixture in which they will be targeting an early away win but with numerous players missing and it being the first game of the season, it is also an unpredictable one.<\/p>\n
Finishing 11th<\/sup> last season was a major improvement on the final day drama of a relegation escape in 2019\/20 but a mid-season dip in form which saw only two wins in ten games culminated in a season of what could have been.<\/p>\n The standout story of the summer has been the departure of Jack Grealish who was both the captain and the face of the club but the owners acted swiftly to bring in players ahead of his move to Manchester City in recruiting Emi Buendia, Leon Bailey and Danny Ings amongst others.<\/p>\n Despite the initial blow, it provides more balance across the attack with pace, creativity and a proven record of goals being added in to the side.<\/p>\n Ashley Young has received a welcome return to the club and has been one of the stand out players during pre-season.<\/p>\n Villa fans have also been pleased to see the return of Axel Tuanzebe on loan from Manchester United who will provide depth in multiple positions.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Aston Villa Team News<\/strong><\/p>\n Aston Villa will have to contend with numerous absences ahead of the opening game. Emi Buendia (hip) faces a fitness test, Leon Bailey is still undergoing his isolation period, Morgan Sanson (knee) has not yet returned to training and Douglas Luiz has just left Japan following winning Olympic gold with Brazil.<\/p>\n Trezeguet (ACL) remains a long term injury and Keinan Davis is also sidelined.<\/p>\n Striker Ollie Watkins (bruised knee) should make the game according to Dean Smith after coming off in the recent 3-1 win against Salernitana.<\/p>\n Former Southampton striker Danny Ings should make his debut and will look to continue to build upon an impressive record that has seen him score 31 goals (not including penalties) since the start of 2019\/20 (Only Harry Kane (35) and Mohamed Salah (32) have scored more).<\/p>\n Possible starting line up<\/strong>: The Hornets have a lot of competition across midfield and Xisco Munoz will have some tough decisions to make in regards to who starts from the likes of Imran Louza, Peter Etebo, Juraj Kucka and Tom Cleverley.<\/p>\n Cucho Hernandez will likely start ahead of Troy Deeney up front.<\/p>\n
\nMartinez, Targett, Mings, Konsa, Cash, Nakamba, McGinn, El Ghazi, Buendia, Watkins, Ings<\/p>\n
\nWatford Team News
\n<\/strong>
\nWatford will kick off their return to the top-flight with very few injury concerns. Domingos Quina (thigh) is likely to miss out and Will Hughes has been training with the Under-23 side as his contract talks continue to cause problems.<\/p>\n