Dean Smith says Aston Villa could go striker-less against Manchester City

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Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has said he could set up without a recognised striker for the visit of Manchester City this weekend.

The Villans are without Wesley, who has been ruled out for the season with a knee injury, Keinan Davis and Jonathan Kodjia who is ill.

Villa took on Leicester City in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg on Wednesday and used Anwar El Ghazi through the middle, and Smith has suggested he could go striker-less again on Sunday.

He said in a press conference (Sky Sports): “We’ve got a situation at the football club at the moment where Wesley got injured at Burnley, Keinan Davis is out, and Jonathan Kodija was ill.

“We had to put our forward-thinking players on the pitch and I thought it worked OK. I think it [playing without a striker] can work again. There’s no reason why it can’t but we have to be better on the ball against Manchester City.”

TBR’s view – Grealish and El Ghazi as a two?

In midweek, Pep Guardiola used an interesting tactic against Manchester United that saw Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero both left on the bench.

Midfielders Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva were tasked with working the final third at Old Trafford on Tuesday, and maybe Smith can call on Jack Grealish and Anwar El Ghazi to carry out the same roles.

Both are good at pressing and could force a shaky City backline into mistakes at Villa Park.