Match day 3 of La Liga sees us comes up against Villarreal, live from the Estadio Cerámica. It’s a tricky away game, but like every meet up against these 2 sides, we should be guaranteed goals.
I’d also say its our first test of the season, Villarreal are a solid side which plays good football and it will be a test for us. One thing that should be quite refreshing is that Villarreal aren’t generally a team that sits in a low block, they’re playing at home so they’ll want to play football. Which means there should be more space to operate in. So after 2 consecutive games against 2 of the most irritating teams in the league.
Against 2 of the deepest blocks in football. It should be a nice change to see a game where football will be played.
Injury crisis?
A bit like last time, as its still early on in the season, we’re just going to jump straight into what the lineup could be. One big piece of news and very sad piece of news coming into the game today is the fact that Pedri is out of action for the next month or so. He picked up an injury during training earlier this week.
So that means him and Araujo are now out due to training injuries. It’s a massive blow already in the season. And we all know how much of a spark we lose when hes not here. But were going to have to replace his influence as best we can. Luckily this season is that we have players who can come in and give a similar impact like Gundogan and Gavi. As well as the likes of Fermin Lopez, Yamal and even Noah Darvich who may make an appearance as the season goes on.
Ansu’s time
So with that bit of sad news out of the way, lets move onto the predicted lineup for the game. When it comes to the formation, I wouldn’t be surprised to see us deploy the box midfield system. But it might have a few tweaks to it. What id want to see is Ansu stating off the left. And he would act as the inverted left forward.
He naturally drifts inside, is an added goal threat and has a great partnership with Lewandowski which may only help his fortunes in front of goal too. Ferran should be starting so id put him on the right hand side. Again, hes in red hot form and hes another goal threat. Id love to see Yamal feature in the game too. His first start against Cadiz last weekend was exceptional. He gives us that creative spark and unpredictability. He’s an absolute gem. Fermin Lopez can also have a great impact off the bench too.
In defence, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Frenkie start as one of the centre backs next to Christensen. But that’s only if we play Kounde at right back. If Roberto stars at right back, then of course it’ll be a back line of Kounde and Christensen with Balde slotting in at left back.
My starting lineup:
Ter Stegen
Roberto- Kounde- Christensen- Balde
Gundogan- Romeu- Gavi
Ferran- Lewandowski- Ansu
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