Aston Villa vs Southampton: CONFIRMED lineups and open thread

Aston Villa come into this match in 17th, barely clinging to life above the drop zone. A win would vault them to 13th (ahead of West Bromwich Albion) and a draw would see them move to 16th. It's another situation where a draw wouldn't help TOO much, so hopefully Paul Lambert goes for the win today.

And he'll have to with an Aston Villa side who have been absolutely shattered by injuries.Ron Vlaar, Nathan Baker, Philippe Senderos, and Fabian Delph are the key players who won't be in the lineup. Nor will Christian Benteke, who is serving the second of his three matches on the suspension for the red card. Hooray for incompetent refereeing screwing us over a series of weeks! Anyhow, here are the lineups, and please join us in the comments. Even in the worst-case scenario, we all still have each other.

Up the Villa!

Aston Villa Starting XI

Brad Guzan; Alan Hutton, Jores Okore, Ciaran Clark, Aly Cissokho; Carlos Sanchez, Ashley Westwood, Tom Cleverley; Andi Weimann, Charles N'Zogbia, Gabby Agbonlahor

Aston Villa Bench

Shay Given, Leandro Bacuna, Joe Cole, Kieran Richardson, Darren Bent, Matthew Lowton, Jack Grealish

Southampton Starting XI

Fraser Forster; Nathaniel Clyne, Jose Fonte, Toby Alderweireld, Ryan Bertrand; Victor Wanyama, Morgan Schneiderlin, Dusan Tadic, Shane Long, Saido Mane; Graziano Pelle

Southampton Bench

Kelvin Davis, Mara Yoshida, Florin Gardos, Matt Targett, Jack Cork, Harrison Reed, Emmanuel Mayuka