Burton v Aston Villa preview
Tuesday 28 August 2018 11:40, UK
Burton's injury list is starting to ease ahead of the Carabao Cup second-round visit of Aston Villa on Tuesday.
Joe Sbarra (ankle) and Damien McCrory (hamstring) remain out for Nigel Clough's Brewers. New signing Stephen Quinn could make his full debut while Jamie Allen is banned after being sent off in Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Oxford.
Burton are seeking their first ever win over Villa having lost three and drawn one of their previous four meetings.
Villa could hand Yannick Bolasie a debut after he completed a loan move from Everton at the weekend. The 29-year-old is with Villa for the season having fallen down the pecking order at Goodison Park.
John McGinn (knee) and Jack Grealish (thigh) will miss out with Villa expected to make a host of changes. Keinan Davis and Scott Hogan (both groin) remain sidelined for boss Steve Bruce.
Opta stats
Burton and Aston Villa have faced four times previously, all in the Championship in 2016-17 and 2017-18, with Villa winning three of the four games, and the other ending 1-1.
Aston Villa have progressed from five of their last six League Cup ties against sides from a lower division - the exception was their 3-1 defeat in the first round in 2016-17 away at Luton Town.
Burton are looking to reach the League Cup third round in consecutive seasons for the first time - they won 2-1 against Cardiff City in the second round last season.
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce has won six of his previous seven managerial encounters with Nigel Clough (D1) - their only previous cup meeting was in the FA Cup semi-final in 2013-14, with Bruce's Hull winning 5-3 against Clough's Sheffield United.
Both of Burton manager Nigel Clough's League Cup second round matches at home have ended 5-0 - in 2013-14 as Derby manager they beat Brentford by that margin, but in 2016-17 he was on the wrong end of a 5-0 defeat to Liverpool with the Brewers.
Don Goodman's prediction
Burton are in the midst of a relegation hangover at the moment and they've lost four of their first five games since relegation back to League One, but the game that they did win was at home. Villa will probably rest a lot of players but though the theory says they should have too much, it's a game that I've got a gut feeling won't be straightforward for Steve Bruce's men.
They struggled past Yeovil in round one and Burton gave them a real game at the end of last year at Villa Park; they've given them problems in the past and it's another one I'm backing to go to extra-time.
Don predicts: 1-1 (5/1 with Sky Bet)
