Aston Villa team news vs Wolves - Matt Maher and Nathan Judah analysis - video Dailymotion

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Aston Villa team news vs Wolves - Matt Maher and Nathan Judah analysis

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00:00I'm delighted to be joined by Aston Villa reporter Matt Mayer, head of the big game

00:10at the weekend, the West Midlands derby. It's going to be an absolute cracker. It is Wolverhampton

00:13Wanderers against Aston Villa. We all know Wolves have got a few issues. Of course, Jürgen

00:18Strand-Larsen out with that hamstring, Giao Gomez suspended for the game. I'll tell you

00:22what, Matt, Aston Villa have got some issues as well, haven't they?

00:25I've been going through the list this afternoon from last night's team sheet. I think they're

00:32probably down to 12 senior players. I think outfield players are going into Saturday with

00:43Matty Cash, who has obviously been injured last night. John Duran will be flying to Saudi

00:50Arabia.

00:51Economy class.

00:53He'll probably be signed for Al-Nasr on Saturday. It doesn't sound like Villa are going to make

00:59any signings before Friday's 12pm deadline. It is the bare bones for Villa in terms of

01:08senior players. You're looking at, same as last night, Boubacar Kamara playing at centre-back.

01:14Right back will probably be either Lamar Bogard, Kostin Adelkovic, who was meant to be moving

01:21out on loan, or the new signing, Andres Garcia, who's come from the Spanish second division.

01:28One of the more peculiar signings of the transfer window. They've got an issue at right back

01:35and midfield is pretty much maxed out. You've got no Amadou Anana, you've got no Ross Barkley.

01:42John McGinn will have to drop back to help out Uri Telemans, because Kamara is going

01:48back into defence. The forward line pretty much picks itself. The one thing they will

01:56have is Daniel Marlon, the new signing from Borussia Dortmund, who was cut tied on Wednesday

02:04night. He'll come back into the thinking. The bench essentially will be, in terms of

02:11senior options on the bench, will be Ian Martson and Marlon. Unless Marlon starts, which I

02:16suppose is a possibility. I think it's more likely to go with the Premier League experience

02:25of Leon Bale and bring Marlon on instead. There's not a huge amount of strength and

02:36depth available at the minute. That's why Wednesday night was big for them. To skip

02:42the play-off round and get those two fixtures taken out of February. February becomes almost

02:50the easiest month of the season. They're just playing every weekend, no mid-week games.

02:55Actually, there's one at Crystal Palace, but that's at the end of the month. I think you're

03:02in a process now with Villa where it's just a case of trying to stay within reasonable

03:08distance of the top five or six. Anana, Barkley, Mings, Torres will be back at some point.

03:21I still think there's a potential to have a strong finish to the season, but at the

03:26minute it's a struggle. This game comes at the end of a really, really tough run of playing

03:32every three or four days, so they've just almost got to try and get through it as best

03:38they can. Of course, as we know, the other factor is that it's after a Champions League

03:43game and Villa don't do well after Champions League games, as we know.

03:49I was going to say, Wolves don't do well after Premier League games, Sam.

03:55Well, I was going to say, any Wolves fans who might be watching, albeit the only team that Villa

04:02have beaten after playing in the Champions League in mid-week this season, is Wolves.

04:07Which was after the first Champions League game against Young Boys, which was back in September

04:12when everyone was still fresh. Frankly, Young Boys wasn't the most severe challenge that Villa

04:18will face this season. The next six they haven't won, so they're facing this never-ending question

04:27about can you win? Can you win after Champions League games? Can you win at Molyneux?

04:33I mean, there was the behind-closed-doors game in 2020, wasn't it? Won with an El Ghazi penalty,

04:40but otherwise, I always feel they don't particularly play well at Molyneux.

04:52This game feels like it's going to be a tough one for Villa, 72 hours on from the big emotional

05:00release of beating Celtic and getting into the Champions League top eight.

05:05But it's another test for them to see whether this is what good teams have to put up with, isn't it?

05:15It's going to be a very interesting evening it is. Wolves against Aston Villa,

05:185.30 kick-off at Molyneux. Myself, Mr Matt Mayer and Mr Lee King shall be there.

05:23Can I just say what? I can't believe this has been picked for television.

05:27I can't believe it. I keep saying this, every game that we've been able to play,

05:35we are due a good one. Actually, September's wasn't the worst, was it?

05:45It's been grim. There have been some real stodgy affairs. I was surprised it was picked.

05:55I know you get why it was picked, because both teams are in the midst of respective battles.

06:02With past history, I was surprised it was picked, but fingers crossed.

Aston Villa team news vs Wolves - Matt Maher and Nathan Judah analysis

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