OPINION
Dean Smith must axe woeful goalkeeper Orjan Nyland if he wants to field his best possible Aston Villa line-up against QPR at Loftus Road on Friday night.
Villa blew a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 at Norwich on Tuesday and Nyland’s latest horror show in goals means that the rarely-seen Andre Moreira must be handed his first Championship appearance for the trip to West London instead of the first team mainstay.
Glenn Whelan, Conor Hourihane, Albert Adomah and Ahmed Elmohamady should also be dropped so that Smith can name a starting line-up that is capable of destroying QPR in their own backyard.
Moreira must be named to start behind an unchanged back-four of Alan Hutton, Axel Tuanzebe, James Chester and Neil Taylor.
While this defence conceded two goals to suffer defeat at Carrow Road, Smith has next to no other options and he should prioritise strengthening this area of the squad in January.
John McGinn is available after serving a one-match suspension at Norwich so he must return to the starting line-up with Birkir Bjarnason in the deeper-lying midfield positions.
Yannick Bolasie could be available and he must get his first start for the Villains in a bid to add extra creativity in the final final. Ahmed El Ghazi should start on the opposite flank.
Jack Grealish can be the key to picking apart QPR’s defence and should play in the No 10 role behind Tammy Abraham, who is a no-brainer to start up front if he is fit and ready.