After Ronaldo Vieira got himself sent off against Wolves, O’Kane stepped in to replace him and had a decent game, before going off injured. It seems at this stage that Kalvin Phillips is one of the first names on the team sheet, who would have guessed? That leaves one position to fill next to him.
We can rule Klich out it seems, with him being about as out of favour as you can get, with a potential move back to Holland on the cards for him. Conor Shaughnessy also appears to be ahead of the Polish international, although he looked a bit shaky in midfield against Barnsley.
O’Kane has yet to be ruled out of the Villa game, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone if Friday is too soon for him. In that case, Vieira should find himself back in the team and although he made a stupid error at Wolves, he would improve us. He was made to wait for his chance this season but he has played really well since coming into the side.
In saying that, I wouldn’t be against trying Anita in his natural position as he clearly isn’t a left-back. We might need some of his experience against Villa, who are in fine form. It seems unlikely but you never know, Christiansen might have a surprise up his sleeve.
For me, I’d go with Vieira, he and Kalvin seem to have a good relationship on and off the pitch and they’ll both be well up for this game.
Let us know who you think should start in midfield for the massive game against Villa on Friday!
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I would start with Viera and also Ekuban. Someone needs to rough up Snodgrass a bit as if he is shackled Villa lose a valuable option.