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Aston Villa Depth Chart, Week Two

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LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 18:  Matthew Lowton of Aston Villa passes the ball during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Aston Villa at the Boleyn Ground on August 18, 2012 in London, England.  (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 18: Matthew Lowton of Aston Villa passes the ball during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Aston Villa at the Boleyn Ground on August 18, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
Getty Images

Alright, so based on what we saw at Upton Park last weekend, we've made a couple of minor adjustments to last week's depth chart. First of all, we flipped Brett Holman and Charles N'Zogbia. Paul Lambert elected to play the Australian on the left and N'Zogbia on the right. This seems to indicate that Lambert wants his wingers to cut inside on their stronger foot, allowing the fullbacks to provide width in the attack.

This leads us on to the next issue, which is that we don't really have any fullbacks. Matthew Lowton made his Premier League debut at right back, and Nathan Baker played left back, despite having spent almost all of his Villa career as a centre back in the reserves. It appears that Lambert is not yet assured of Enda Stevens' first team credentials, as the young Irishman started for the Under-21s just yesterday, assisting Michael Drennan on Villa's opening goal in a victory over Stoke City.

A couple more minor notes, particularly concerning our back line: Richard Dunne is rumoured to be joining Stoke City, pending successful groin surgery. The Mail is still the only source reporting this, though, so it's worth taking with a grain of salt for the moment. There are, however, more believable reports that Stephen Warnock is on his way out. Depending on who you believe, he's training with the reserves, going back to Blackburn, or even catching some mediocre Britpop. I don't imagine any of us will be all that sad to see that particular expense disappear from the wage book, but it remains worth noting that Warnock was once an international-class fullback and it's a bit of a shame that it's come to this.

STRIKER

  • Darren Bent
  • Andreas Weimann
    • Nathan Delfouneso
    • Brett Holman (2)
      • Graham Burke (R)
        • Gabriel Agbonlahor (I)

LEFT MIDFIELD

  • Brett Holman
    • Barry Bannan (2)
    • Charles N'Zogbia (2)
      • Samir Carruthers (2)
        • Gabriel Agbonlahor (I)
        • Marc Albrighton (I)

RIGHT MIDFIELD
  • Charles N'Zogbia
    • Stephen Ireland (2)
    • Brett Holman (2)
      • Barry Bannan (2)
      • Samir Carruthers (2)
        • Gabriel Agbonlahor (I)
        • Marc Albrighton (I)

CENTRAL MIDFIELD
  • Karim El Ahmadi
  • Stephen Ireland
  • Fabian Delph
    • Barry Bannan
    • Chris Herd
    • Gary Gardner
    • Samir Carruthers
      • Daniel Johnson (R)
        • Jean Makoun (?)
        • Stiliyan Petrov (#)

LEFT BACK
  • Nathan Baker (2)
    • Enda Stevens
    • Ciaran Clark (2)
      • Stephen Warnock (*)

RIGHT BACK
  • Matthew Lowton
    • Eric Lichaj
    • Chris Herd (2)
      • Alan Hutton (*)

CENTER BACK
  • Ron Vlaar
  • Ciaran Clark
    • Nathan Baker
      • Chris Herd (2)
      • Eric Lichaj (2)
      • Derrick Williams (R)
        • Richard Dunne (I)(X)
GOALKEEPER
  • Shay Given
    • Brad Guzan
      • Andy Marshall (R)
KEY:
(I)-Injured
(2)-Secondary position
(R)-Reserve-level player
(*)-Last seen being chased away from Bodymoor Heath by a pitchfork-wielding Scotsman.
(X)-Tony Pulis' lust object
(?)-Whatever happened to Jason Bourne at the beginning of that first movie, probably.
(#)-Giving leukemia the business