Aston Villa vs Preston North End; Sky Bet Championship
Aston Villa vs Preston North End. Sky Bet Championship.
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Aston Villa v Preston preview
Monday 19 February 2018 17:06, UK
Aston Villa's Albert Adomah, Jack Grealish and Ahmed Elmohamady are all doubts for the Sky Bet Championship home clash with Preston on Tuesday.
Adomah and Grealish missed Saturday's 2-0 loss at Fulham because of hamstring and calf problems respectively, while Elmohamady came off injured at half-time.
Andre Green remains sidelined by a hamstring issue of his own, while Jonathan Kodjia (ankle) and Jed Steer (shoulder) are also still unavailable. The fit-again Gabriel Agbonlahor could make his return to the matchday squad as third-placed Villa look to bounce back from a result at the weekend that halted a run of seven successive league wins.
Seventh-placed Preston will be without the suspended John Welsh but welcome back Greg Cunningham and Ben Pearson following their respective bans. Welsh is ruled out for one game following his sending off against Wolves on Saturday.
Cunningham was banned for that contest having been shown red a week earlier at Brentford, while Pearson has been absent for both of the last two matches after picking up a 10th yellow card of the season. Boss Alex Neil has said "a couple of players have knocks" that will need to be assessed, while Paul Gallagher and Tom Clarke both sat out the Wolves game because of fitness issues.
Opta stats
Aston Villa have lost one of their last 16 home matches against Preston in all competitions (W11 D4), a 1-0 defeat in November 1968.
Preston have failed to score in seven of their last 10 matches against Villa, including in a 2-0 home Championship defeat earlier this season.
The Villans failed to score for the first time in 10 Championship fixtures, following their 0-2 defeat against Fulham last time out.
Preston have lost just one of their last 16 Championship matches (W7 D8), losing to Middlesbrough on New Year's Day.
Prutton's prediction
Aston Villa came crashing back down to earth at Fulham on Saturday as their winning run came to an end at Craven Cottage. It was always going to be a tough trip, however, and Steve Bruce will have them right back up for this one.
Preston got a great result against Wolves at the weekend, especially after going down to 10 men. They're still knocking on the door of the play-offs and I fancy them to nick a draw here.
David Prutton predicts: 1-1 (9/2 with Sky Bet)
