Aston Villa vs Cardiff - Team News, Match Preview & Likely Line-Ups

by Crip Cooke

Venue: Villa Park Referee: Martin Atkinson Date: 9th of November Aston Villa's poor run has stemmed from the dip in form of their front trio Gabriel Agbonlahor, Andreas Weimann, and Christian Benteke. They will be without Agbonlahor and Weimann for the Cardiff clash, which means a new look attacking pairing again for Lambert's men. Left-back continues to be a problem area for the Midlands side, with Antonion Luna and Joe Bennett both ruled out with injury - leaving Lambert to stick with a makeshift left-side with Leandro Bacuna set to deputise. Cardiff City are playing with confidence, but have had unwanted distractions from the club's owner Vincent Tan. Nevertheless, they will still be on cloud nine following the Swansea victory and will regard this weekend's match as winnable considering Aston Villa poor home form - with just one win at Villa Park this season. Team News Aston Villa are enduring an injury crisis of late. Antonio Luna, Jores Okore are out of action, and the side could also be without Andreas Weimann, Gabby Agbonlahor, Fabian Delph, and Joe Bennett. Cardiff have just Andres Cornelius as the only absentee from the first-team. Recent Form Villa have been suffering from a goal drought of late - with the side failing to score in their last four league outings. With just one win from their previous five games means the Villans regard this fixture as a must-win. Cardiff have been in decent form, recently beating Swansea City 1-0 in the first ever South Wales derby in the Premier League. The Bluebirds have won just once on their travels so far this campaign, but are sitting pretty in 12th place - three places and two points above Villa. Likely Lineups Aston Villa (3-5-2) - GK: Brad Guzan, DC: Ciaran Clark, Nathan Baker & Ron Vlaar, LWB: Leandro Bacuna, MC: Fabian Delph, Ashley Westwood & Karim El-Ahmadi, RWB: Matty Lowton, ST: Libor Kozak & Christian Benteke Cardiff City (4-1-4-1) - GK: David Marshall, DL: Andrew Taylor, DC: Ben Turner & Steven Caulker, DR: Theophile-Catherine, DMC: Gary Medel, ML: Craig Bellamy, MC: Peter Whittingham & Jordon Mutch, MR: Don Cowie, ST: Peter Odemwingie Source: BBC Football

Contributor
Contributor

Crippy Cooke, 23, is a freelance Football Writer contributing to What Culture. He's had work featured on Zoo, MSN, London 24, The Telegraph, The Huffington Post, and was recently named Writer of the Year on FTBpro - while also a nominee for Best Male Blog in the Football Blogging Awards.