Aston Villa will face a very youthful Liverpool side in their Carabao Cup quarter-final, due to Liverpool’s clash of fixtures with the Club World Cup.
The side, who will be led out by Neil Critchley, will be hungry to take their opportunity to impress, as they will be hoping to earn further first-team involvements moving forward.
This means Villa can’t afford to get complacent ahead of the match, something Dean Smith will be fully aware of.
Watch Villa vs Norwich Live and Free with Amazon Prime on Boxing Day
However, in our predicted XI, we’re tipping the Villans to make nine changes from last weekend with some familiar faces still being included along the way.
Orjan Nyland has only made one appearance this campaign, which came when Jed Steer was injured in the league against Wolverhampton Wanderers. With the stopper still out and Heaton likely to be rested, the Norway international could get his second against Liverpool.
Smith may be tempted to use the same backline that was utilised during the 2-1 win against Wolves in the last round. Neil Taylor, Ezri Konsa and Ahmed Elmohamady were all left out of the starting lineup for the loss against Sheffield United.
Kortney Hause made his Premier League debut during that game and stays in for the cup tie, as Tyrone Mings is still out injured, with the hope being he will return before the New Year.
The same midfield has also been selected from the team that participated in the last round, with Douglas Luiz having been used from the bench against the Blades, while Conor Hourihane missed out altogether.
Henri Lansbury did start that game, but having put in an underwhelming performance that saw him get a rating of four from The Birmingham Mail, he could be confined to the cup competitions for a while moving forward.
Jota has been a sporadic figure at Villa Park this season, making just five starts and three substitute appearances across all competitions, so this could be seen as a good opportunity to get him some game time.
What do you really know about the Premier League’s greatest managers? Find out below…
Trezeguet has scored in his last three starts, but has not been on at the start of Villa’s two most recent matches, so Smith may give him the chance to extend that run against a youthful Liverpool outfit.
Jonathan Kodjia has managed just 81 minutes of first-team football across all competitions this campaign, but with Keinan Davis having been unavailable for the last seven league games, he may be utilised here.
In other news, FFC writers have discussed whether Villa would be wise to move for their defensive transfer target.
