Aston Villa travel away to face Wolverhampton Wanderers in an all-Midlands clash in the Premier League at the Molineux stadium this afternoon.
Unai Emery's side are coming into this match off the back of a 1-0 win over Zrinjski in the Europa Conference League at Villa Park on Thursday night.
John McGinn scored the only goal of the game as the home side claimed all three points in Europe under the lights. The Scotland international provided a fantastic glancing touch with his head to guide Matty Cash's pinpoint cross into the back of the net in stoppage time.
Villa now return to Premier League action and are currently sat fifth in the table after seven matches, with five wins and two defeats to their name to date.
Whereas, Wolves are 15th in the divison and have only won two of their seven league outings with Gary O'Neil at the helm so far this season.
What's the latest Aston Villa team news?
Emery has revealed that French duo Boubacar Kamara and Moussa Diaby are both in contention to feature against the Old Gold this afternoon.
He confirmed that both players were due to train on Saturday and that they could be named in the matchday squad for this match if they get through that session without any problems.
Meanwhile, Alex Moreno and Jacob Ramsey will not be available for selection. The former faced a minor setback in his recovery and is expected to be back after the international break, whilst the manager opted not to offer a timeline on the latter's return.
However, Emery does still have plenty of options to pick from and has a number of players available to come into the team after the win on Thursday night.
One player who must be unleashed from the start today after they were on the bench for the European clash is central midfielder Douglas Luiz.
How did Leander Dendoncker perform against Zrinjski?
The Spanish head coach should move Leander Dendoncker out of the way for the Brazilian gem to start after the former Wolves man failed to impress on Thursday.
He recorded a Sofascore rating of 6.6 for his display in the middle of the park against the Bosnian outfit, which was the lowest rating of any Villa starter on the night.
The Belgium international did not create a single key pass for his teammates throughout his 45 minutes on the pitch and only won one duel, which was an aerial battle. This meant that he did not make a single tackle or interception to break up the oppostion's attacks.
Therefore, the defensive midfielder did not make a big impact at either end of the pitch, as he did not create chances for others or stop the other team from causing problems at the other end, on a consistent basis.
How did Luiz perform against Zrinjski?
The former Manchester City prospect was brought on for Dendoncker at half-time and caught the eye with his excellent second-half performance in midfield.
He recorded a Sofascore rating of 7.6, which was the highest of all four substitutes, as the central midfielder showcased his ability on and off the ball.
Luiz won all three of his duels to showcase his physical dominance and displayed quality in possession with two dribbles completed,
out of two attempted, and two key passes, as per Sofascore.
These statistics suggest that the talented maestro was a huge upgrade on Dendoncker in the second 45 due to his ability to make things happen with his quality on the ball, along with his improved physicality off it.
However, this was not a one-off display for Luiz as the central midfielder has enjoyed a terrific start to the season for the Villans in midfield.
How many goals has Luiz scored this season?
The Brazil international has found the back of the net four times in all competitions throughout the 2023/24 campaign to date, with three of those coming in his seven Premier League outings.
Luiz, who journalist Gregg Evans once dubbed a "star" and a "joy to watch", has also averaged a fantastic Sofascore rating of 7.40 in the top-flight and only Ollie Watkins (7.51) has averaged a higher rating for the club so far.
His ability to push his team forward from a midfield position has been particularly impressive. He ranks within the top 23% of his positional peers at Premier League level for progressive carries (1.87) and shot-creating actions (3.42) per 90 respectively.
This shows that he has been one of the best central midfielders within the division at progressing his side up the pitch with his dribbling, whilst the £75k-per-week talent has also excelled at putting his teammates in positions to either shoot or to create a chance for another player to shoot.
How many goals has Dendoncker scored for Villa?
The 28-year-old battler has failed to score in 26 first-team appearances for the Villans since his move to the club from Wolves in the summer of 2022.
Dendoncker is yet to start a Premier League game this season and averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.70 across 24 top-flight matches last term, which included nine starts.
The central midfielder made 1.8 tackles and interceptions per game throughout the 2022/23 campaign, whilst Luiz has averaged 3.1 per match in the league so far during the current season.
This suggests that the 25-year-old dynamo could provide more quality as a screener in front of the back four to cut out opposition attacks with vital defensive interventions.
Dendoncker's possession statistics over the last 365 days also indicate that he would not provide as much incision as the ex-Manchester City gem.
The Belgian brute ranks within the bottom 4% of his positional peers within the Men's Big Five Leagues and European competitions for progressive passes (2.40), progressive carries (0.13), and shot-creating actions (1.07) per 90 respectively over the last year.
He does not produce quality play on the ball on a regular basis and could, therefore, limit Villa's attacking play if selected from the start against Wolves.
Therefore, Luiz should be brought back into the starting XI ahead of Dendoncker for this clash this afternoon due to the greater impact that he could have in and out of possession in comparison to the ex-Anderlecht prospect.
