Summary Aston Villa's dreams of being at the top of the Premier League table at Christmas were shattered with a draw against Sheffield United and a defeat against Manchester United. Reality has set in. Villa's defensive collapse in the second half against Manchester United led to an impressive comeback win for the opposition. Changes in the lineup are expected for the upcoming match against Burnley. Emery will likely make four changes to the starting XI, including bringing back Matty Cash and Pau Torres in defense, retaining Clement Lenglet, and starting Moussa Diaby in an unfamiliar left-wing position. Watkins will lead the line again.
Aston Villa's dreams of sitting top of the Premier League table at Christmas were dashed by a 1-1 draw with Sheffield United at Villa Park, with a 3-2 defeat away to Manchester United directly after bringing Unai Emery's men firmly back to reality with their feet definitely now planted on the ground.
It was a second-half collapse at Old Trafford from Villa that saw Erik ten Hag's men pull off an impressive comeback win at the expense of the deflated visitors from Birmingham, Emery's side feeling even more charitable during the 90 minutes to allow Rasmus Hojlund the opportunity to net his first ever top-flight goal.
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The popular Villa manager could well reshuffle his lineup majorly therefore in a bid to get back to winning ways immediately at home to Burnley tomorrow, with a possible four changes on the cards in this predicted XI…
1 GK – Emiliano Martínez
World Cup-winning Emiliano Martinez will be retained in-between the sticks for the home game against Burnley tomorrow, the Argentine shot-stopper making four saves in the contest at Old Trafford – as per Sofascore – to keep the scoreline respectable.
2 RB – Matty Cash
Matty Cash will come back into the side after serving a suspension for the Red Devils loss, walking back into the lineup to replace Ezri Konsa who filled in adequately in Cash's absence.
The Poland international's direct approach was missing at the Theatre of Dreams, Emery hoping his number two can terrorise Burnley tomorrow on the way to a much-needed three points.
3 CB – Pau Torres
A second defensive switch in Emery's lineup could come in the form of Pau Torres coming back into the team at the expense of Diego Carlos, the ex-Villarreal centre-back missing the last two games due to a slight injury knock.
Torres could be risked against Vincent Kompany's Clarets owing to Carlos' off-day last time out in Manchester, the 30-year-old only launching himself into one tackle all game as the Red Devils caused havoc in an enthralling second 45 minutes.
As a result, the Spaniard could come into the team to replace a lacklustre Carlos – the impressive centre-back always having "everything under control" ,according to his former Malaga assistant manager Alvaro Reina Gomez when speaking to Sky Sports this season.
4 CB – Clement Lenglet
Clement Lenglet won't face the same fate as his defensive teammates, retained by Emery after a measured display at Old Trafford amidst all the chaos.
The French centre-back even helped himself to an assist on the night, teeing up assisting Leander Dendoncker's goal that made it 2-0 in the opening exchanges before the Villa collapse kicked in.
5 LB – Alex Moreno
Lucas Digne will also miss out in defence for this home match with Burnley, ruled out of the contest after hobbling off with a hamstring injury in midweek.
Alex Moreno will aim to fill in competently for the ex-Everton man, the summer signing from Real Betis impressing in a 40-minute run-out in place of Digne by completing two key passes.
6 CM – Leander Dendoncker
Dendoncker will start against the Clarets at Villa Park tomorrow, the Belgian midfielder connecting with a Lenglet header to convert past Andre Onana to give Villa that early 2-0 lead.
The Villa number 32 was also important as an enforcer in a holding role, losing only two of his nine duels in the eventual defeat.
7 CM – Douglas Luiz
Douglas Luiz was second-rate throughout the loss at Old Trafford, but Emery will persist with the underwhelming Brazilian midfielder regardless, owing to a lack of options being able to come in and replace him – Youri Tielemans out for some time with an injury concern, whilst Boubacar Kamara is also still missing due to a red card picked up away at Brentford.
Still, when Luiz is on song, he's a tricky player to contain as has been seen in many Villa wins this season – the 25-year-old a wanted man as a result by the likes of Arsenal in the Premier League with five goals and three assists from midfield.
8 RW – Leon Bailey
Leon Bailey wasn't at his electric best away against United either, substituted off late into the second half after managing just two shots on Onana's goal.
Emery will want his winger to be more adventurous against a susceptible Burnley defence tomorrow, the Jamaican attacker potentially adding a sixth goal or assist to his season tally against the leaky visitors from Lancashire.
9 CAM – John McGinn
John McGinn will also want to find the back of the net against Burnley to keep up a rich vein of form, the Scottish midfielder's looping free-kick catching Onana off-guard against Man United last time out to open the scoring.
The Villa attacking midfielder could have had more than one goal next to his name on another day – hitting two efforts on target – and so will hope his shooting boots are still in-tact for the visit of Kompany's relegation-threatened side tomorrow.
10 LW – Moussa Diaby
The final tweak Emery could make to the starting eleven would be starting Moussa Diaby in a left-wing spot, an unfamiliar position for the French forward to occupy at Villa Park but one he had grown accustomed to at Bayer Leverkusen before making the switch to England.
Regularly operating down both channels in the Bundesliga, Diaby amassed 17 goals and 21 assists playing as a left winger for the German giants.
Emery could be tempted therefore to see if this positional switch would benefit Diaby, whilst dropping Jacob Ramsey out of the lineup in the process.
Ramsey was below-par on Tuesday, only accumulating a meagre 31 touches of the ball with the Red Devils nullifying the Villa academy product without a need to really exert themselves.