OPINION
Dean Smith is predicted to make two changes to his starting line-up ahead of Aston Villa’s play-off final against Derby County at Wembley on Monday afternoon.
In a bid to make his team a bit more harder to beat, Smith could opt to axe £28,000-a-week [The Sun] Conor Hourihane and replace him with Glenn Whelan in the midfield.
Derby’s strongest area is their attack and Smith is bound to want to stop play a defensive midfielder like Whelan to stop them.
Smith’s other change could be to replace Andre Green on the right wing with Albert Adomah so that he can add some more experience to the side for the play-off final.
Jed Steer is predicted to start in goals behind an unchanged back-four of Ahmed Elmohamady, Axel Tuanzebe, Tyrone Mings and Neil Taylor.
Whelan could start at the base of the midfield with key players Jack Grealish and John McGinn in the more advanced roles.
Adomah is likely to start on the right wing in place of Green while Ahmed El Ghazi is pretty much nailed-on to start on the left-hand side of the attack.
Tammy Abraham has not been the most influential of players in Villa’s last few matches but Smith is predicted to start the club’s top goalscorer up front for the must-win fixture at Wembley.