A section of Aston Villa fans have taken to Twitter to urge Dean Smith to start Conor Hourihane against Norwich at Carrow Road on Tuesday night.
John McGinn is suspended after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season in the win over Swansea on Saturday, so Smith is being forced into making at least one change for the mid-week trip to East Anglia.
Some Villa fans want £28,000-a-week (Sun) midfielder Hourihane back in the side after he was dropped to the bench ahead of the 1-0 victory over the Swans last week, with one saying that the ex-Barnsley ace will have a “masterclass” at Carrow Road.
This is Futbol has rounded up some of the best tweets below:
Good news for us, Pukki has been on fire so far this season!
Shame no McGinn though, big miss. Hopefully see Hourihane come in or Lansbury instead. #AVFC https://t.co/skDeCIoDbe
— Dan Matthews (@DanMatthewsAV) October 23, 2018
Personally mine would look like this, Elmo does deserve to start though I just want to see Bolasie and El Ghazi play a full game on both wings. Hourihane in for suspended McGinn #avfc #utv pic.twitter.com/i42002UcSO
— Headzgone (@Headzgone87) October 23, 2018
Hourihane in for McGinn tomorrow?We’ll miss him but I’m not worried, got so much depth now.
— Will (@will_avfc) October 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/Sam_Bedford1/status/1054456251697033216
team i want to see tomorrow:
Nyland
Elmo Tuanzebe Chester Taylor
Thor Hourihane
Bolasie. Grealish Adomah
Abraham
— Seb Mannell (@seb_mannell) October 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/SupportAVFC/status/1054161812558659591
https://twitter.com/AVHolls/status/1054513756418555904
Back 4 the same, bring el Ghazi hourihane and bolasie in.
— John Gallett (@JohnGallett) October 21, 2018
OPINION
It would surely be an easy decision for Smith to bring Hourihane back into the starting line-up with McGinn suspended, but that does not brush over how big a miss the Scotland international will be for the Villains. Norwich are in really good form at the moment and have crept up the Championship table while going under the radar. They will be without star striker Teemu Pukki, but it will still be a big ask for Aston Villa to take all three points back to the West Midlands. These Aston Villa fans want Hourihane to get the start at Carrow Road and it is no shock as he has the ability to be able to pick apart Norwich if he gets enough time on the ball. Birkir Bjarnason or Mile Jedinak could partner him in the centre of midfield and given how well the Canaries are attacking lately, Smith could opt to start Jedinak.