OPINION
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith is considering changes in his midfield for their weekend clash against Leeds United, with Henri Lansbury, Birkir Bjarnason and Mile Jedinak all back in contention.
The midfield trio of John McGinn, Conor Hourihane and Glenn Whelan struggled to create much against Stoke City in their most recent encounter, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
It is therefore understandable that Smith is considering changes against the Whites, who come to Villa Park high on confidence at the top of the table after 22 games.
As quoted by the Birmingham Mail, Smith said: “I’m hoping for Leeds United that Bjarnason, Lansbury and Jedinak will be back. Albert Adomah should be back, too. When you’ve got players of that quality out it will affect the levels of training as well.”
The most likely to come into the team out of that central midfield trio is Iceland international Bjarnason, but there is certainly a chance that Smith will gamble with former Arsenal ace Lansbury.
The Mail report that the gaffer was left impressed with the midfielder after a closed-door friendly in recent days following his return from a hamstring injury.
However, it would unfortunately be a big mistake from Smith were he to throw Lansbury into the starting lineup against Leeds on Sunday.
The 28-year-old has played just two times all season, and in truth has shown nothing over the course of his time at the club to suggest he is good enough for the Villans.
Obviously everyone deserves a second chance, and Lansbury may well come in and do a job for the club in the remainder of the campaign, but Sunday is not the right time to give him that opportunity.
Leeds are in such good form, and against players such as Mateusz Klich and Adam Forshaw, Lansbury would be in for a rude awakening in his first game back.
This is a game which the Villans really need to win to keep their promotion bid on track ahead of Christmas, and throwing Lansbury in would be a costly error for Smith, who must hold off on handing him a chance for now.