Aston Villa facing defender-pocalypse ahead of West Brom clash

Let's just start with the list of Aston Villa players who are injured or suspended for Saturday's FA Cup match against West Bromwich Albion.

• Ron Vlaar
• Kieran Richardson
• Aly Cissokho
• Philippe Senderos
• Nathan Baker
• Alan Hutton
• Libor Kozak

Vlaar faces a late fitness test, but we've seen this story enough this season to know the answer to that: he's out. Everyone else is definitely out. Let's do a little thought experiment. Who would you consider starting-worthy Aston Villa defenders? My list is: Vlaar, Richardson, Cissokho, Senderos, Baker, Hutton, Leandro Bacuna, Matthew Lowton, Ciaran Clark, and Jores Okore. That's ten players, SIXTY PERCENT of whom will not be fit for Saturday's match.

Good lord. So, that likely means that Lowton continues his turn as a left back and Bacuna jumps into the right back spot vacated by Hutton's suspension. The alternative is having Lowton move to his natural right back position and fill left back with either reserve team player Lewis Kinsella or perhaps Fabian Delph.

On the upside, the injuries seem to be limited to the back line, so Tim Sherwood will have plenty of options elsewhere.