Brentford lineup vs. Aston Villa: Predicted XI for Premier League clash

Brentford have been boosted by the return of four players to training ahead of Saturday’s Premier League clash with Aston Villa at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Ethan Pinnock (muscle), Paris Maghoma (hamstring) and Yunes Emre Konak (ankle) are all in contention to return to the matchday squad after missing last weekend's 3-1 opening defeat at Nottingham Forest, while Mikkel Damsgaard is also available after missing the trip to the City Ground to attend the birth of his child.

While Vitaly Janelt (ankle) and Gustavo Nunes (thigh) remain sidelined with injuries, new head coach Keith Andrews has refused to rule out the possibility of wantaway striker Yoane Wissa featuring in his matchday squad, as he has trained with the first team this week.

A start is seemingly unlikely for Wissa, though, and Andrews will also make a decision on whether to hand club-record signing Dango Ouattara his full debut in attack alongside striker Igor Thiago, who  who scored his first Premier League goal last weekend.

Kevin Schade, who scored 11 Premier League goals last season, will be pushing for a recall in attack and could take the place of Fabio Carvalho, while the return to fitness of left-back Rico Henry allows Keane Lewis-Potter to operate further forward where he is likely to continue against Aston Villa.

Mads Roerslev joined Southampton on a permanent deal on Thursday, so Aaron Hickey and Kristoffer Ajer are the remaining two options who will compete with Michael Kayode for a start at right-back, while Sepp van den Berg is set to continue alongside Nathan Collins at centre-back if Pinnock is not fit to start.

Damsgaard could slot straight into Andrews’s midfield alongside Mathias Jensen, while Jordan Henderson is pushing to start his first game for Brentford and will battle with fellow new recruit Antoni Milambo and Yehor Yarmolyuk for a place in the first XI.

Brentford possible starting lineup: Kelleher; Kayode, Collins, Van den Berg, Henry; Jensen, Henderson, Damsgaard; Lewis-Potter, Thiago, Schade

> Click here to see how Aston Villa could line up for this contest