Aston Villa

West Brom best possible XI v Aston Villa

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OPINION

James Shan should hand Jefferson Montero a rare appearance in West Brom’s starting line-up to name his best possible side against Aston Villa in the second-leg of the play-off semi-finals at The Hawthorns on Tuesday night.

Dwight Gayle’s sending-off in the 2-1 defeat in the first-leg at Villa Park on Saturday means that Shan will be forced into making one change, and in that one change he should decide to bring Montero, 29, back into the side to add as much attacking talent as possible.

Since joining on loan from Swansea in January, the Ecuador international has made just four first team appearances for West Brom and has only been named in the starting line-up once.

However his rapid pace and crossing ability is something that Shan should look to utilise against Villa on Wednesday in a game that the Baggies need to win if they want to reach the play-off final at Wembley.

Sam Johnstone should start in goals behind an unchanged back-three of Craig Dawson, Kyle Bartley and Ahmed Hegazi.

Kieran Gibbs and Mason Holgate are no-brainers to start in the two wing-back roles while Chris Brunt and Stefan Johansen are the two most capable central midfielders that Albion have available to them and need to start on Tuesday night.

West Brom should have a three-pronged attack to try and break down Villa’s defence with Matt Phillips on the right wing, rarely-seen Montero on the left and Jay Rodriguez up front as the centre-forward.

Albion will no doubt miss Gayle on Tuesday as he has been a mainstay of the side this season by scoring 24 goals in 41 appearances across all competitions.

However if Shan names this side to take on Aston Villa then West Brom should be able to smash past their bitter rivals and reach the play-off final to play either Leeds or Derby later this month.

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