Aston Villa predicted XI v Fulham as three ruled out and three are doubts

Aston Villa will mark their return to Premier League action with a visit to Fulham on Saturday afternoon and will hope to force themselves back into the top four with a win at Craven Cottage.

Despite the obvious and understandable distraction of competing in the Champions League for the first time in their history, Unai Emery’s side have made a solid start to the Premier League season by suffering just one defeat in their opening seven games of the league campaign. That solitary loss came at home against title challengers Arsenal - but Emery’s men are aiming to extend a fine start an impressive record on the road after the collected seven points from away days at West Ham United, Leicester City and Ipswich Town.

After experiencing such a hectic start to the new season, it is perhaps unsurprising to discover Emery has a number of major injury concerns to contend with before he finalises his plans for the game against the Cottagers. The Villa boss will have looked on nervously as a number of his players spent time away on international duty over the last fortnight and, fortunately, do not appear to have picked up any further injuries - but there are still some big calls for Emery to make.

Goalkeeper and defence

First and foremost, we know Emi Martinez will start in goal as the Argentina international has firmly established himself not only as Unai Emery’s number one but also as one of the best goalkeepers in world football. However, there are some issues for the Villa boss in defensive areas and it seems likely the Tyrone Mings will remain on the sidelines as he reaches the final stages of a painstaking return from an ACL injury. Ezri Konsa is also likely to miss out with a thigh injury.

Midfield

There are a whole host of injury concerns for Emery in midfield that have left the Villa boss somewhat shorthanded in such a key area. John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana are all close to a return from respective hamstring, groin and thigh injuries and it is expected Saturday’s game will come too soon for the trio. Boubacar Kamara finds himself in a similar position to Tyrone Mings as he is in the final stages of his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury and is not quite at full fitness.

Forwards

Emery has the sort of problems managers love when it comes to the top end of the pitch as he can call upon the services of two in-form strikers. Ollie Watkins appears to be Villa’s first-choice striker and he has rewarded Emery with four goals and three assists in nine appearances in all competitions so far this season. However, the form of Jhon Duran, who has six goals in ten appearances during the first two months of the campaign, means the Colombia international is pushing for a start after coming off the bench on nine occasions so far.

Martinez, Cash, Carlos, Torres, Digne, Bailey, Barkley, Tielemans, Rogers, Duran, Watkins