Aston Villa v Preston preview: Midweek bounce back needed.

The Fulham match was a disappointing result. We’ve covered it plenty and Tuesday is a day to move on to another tough match up. Preston currently sit 7th in the table — on 50 points and three out of the playoff spot. So they travel to Villa looking for a result — and they have two players who know the Villa’s youth set-up quite well with Daniel Johnson and Callum Robinson.

On the injury front — Bruce seemed resigned that Albert Adomah is going to be out. Elmohamady -- who went out at halftime over the weekend with a back injury is a maybe. As is the most important cog in the Villa attack Jack Grealish. Ugh. That creates another selection headache for Steve Bruce.

There really is only one fit winger in the squad and that is Snodgrass. Besides the above — Green is injured and on the youth side Callum O’Hare played Monday for the U23s (who crushed Wolves 6-1!!). Snodgrass should play on the right side where he is much more comfortable (especially if Elmo is out). The left side is a manager’s choice between Birkir Bjarnason, Josh Onomah, and throwing a striker like Lewis Grabban or Scott Hogan to cut inside. Or the entire formation changes and Villa come out with wingbacks and three CBS.

So come kickoff minus one hour — all those answers will be given. Villa needs a bounce back performance and three points would go a long way to steering the promotion ship back on course. Preston is no easy opponent though with everything to play for and coming off a good draw against Wolves.

I’ll leave you with one statistic that is going to make for some nervous watching. So far this year 28.2% of Preston’s goals have come in the final 15 minutes. So settle in and don’t leave early Villa fans.

We will have full coverage here on the blog and and twitter. I’m already on record saying 2-1 to the Villa where Preston find a found in the ~80th minute and all the fans suffer through a miserably tense finish. So that is open to mocking when the result comes in.