Aston Villa continue their push for European qualification against relegation-battling Ipswich at Villa Park.
Victory will see Villa stay eighth in the table, whilst Ipswich could move up to 18th in the table if Leicester lose at lunchtime to Arsenal.
Team News
Defender, Axel Disasi could make his Villa debut after he was cup-tied for their FA Cup victory over Tottenham.
Ezri Konsa (muscle) is ruled out but Tyrone Mings (knee) and Ollie Watkins (groin) could return.
Ross Barkley, Matty Cash (both calf) and Pau Torres (metatarsal) remain sidelined,
Ipswich could have Sammie Szmodics available after he suffered a slight recurrence of his recent ankle injury in the first half of their FA Cup victory at Coventry.
Christian Walton (groin), Wes Burns (ACL), Conor Chaplin (knee) and Chiedozie Ogbene (Achilles) remain ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Ipswich at Villa Park on Saturday 15 February at 3pm GMT, albeit untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa are unbeaten in their last seven Premier League meetings against Ipswich (W5, D2).
- Ipswich have won one of their five previous Premier League visits to Villa (W1, L4).
- Villa have scored twice in four of their last five Premier League clashes against Ipswich, except for a 0-0 away draw in March 2002.
- Coming into this matchweek, no Villa player has made more clearances this season in the top-flight than Konsa (65).
- Conor Chaplin has played more through ball passes than any other Ipswich player this season (9).
Prediction
Following a clinical yet dominant FA Cup win at home to Tottenham, Villa now need to try and find consistency in the league if want to really push for a top-four finish again especially with Marcus Rashford and Marcos Asensio adding fresh tactical options to an already strong attack.
Ipswich though were absolutely superb in their dominant demolition of Coventry last weekend in the FA Cup and you would hope that they can bring that same quality into this game, particularly because they could do with another win to begin building momentum for a survival push.
I however do think that Villa will just be too strong at home but Ipswich should definitely give them a tougher test than even Spurs managed to.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Ipswich
Result: Aston Villa 1-1 Ipswich
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