It is all change at Aston Villa, after Steven Gerrard left the club on Thursday night with the club perilously close to the relegation zone.
Coach Aaron Danks will be in the opposing dugout on Sunday as we look to build on four points from two home games so far this week.
Here’s all you need to know ahead of our trip to the Second City.
The opposition
Aston Villa
Thursday’s 3-0 loss at Fulham was a defeat too far for Steven Gerrard, with the Aston Villa boss sacked less than 90 minutes after full-time at Craven Cottage.
A 41-word statement brought Gerrard’s 40-game reign to an end with Villa only outside the relegation zone on goals scored. Villa’s opening 11 games of the Premier League campaign have brought six defeats and only seven goals scored.
That was certainly not the expectation after an active summer transfer window at Villa Park. Philippe Coutinho made last season’s loan permanent, while highly-rated midfielder Boubacar Kamara joined on a free from Marseille. Brazilian defender Diego Carlos arrived from Seville, as did Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Leandro Dendoncker.
Villa’s only points in five August games came courtesy of a 2-1 home win over Everton before a four-game unbeaten spell in September, which included a 1-1 draw against Manchester City and a 1-0 win over Southampton, both at Villa Park, suggested a corner had been turned. However, defeats this week to Chelsea, and then Fulham, convinced the Villa hierarchy that it was time for a change.
Gerrard’s cause at Villa Park was certainly not helped by long-term injuries to Carlos, Kamara, and Lucas Digne, all of whom would have been factored into his first-choice XI.
However, Villa’s real issue this season has been scoring goals. All seven of Villa’s Premier League goals, the second-lowest total in the Premier League, have been scored by a different player. They have been creating chances, averaging 11.6 shots per game, but have struggled to put them away - their difference between actual goals and Expected Goals is the third largest in the division.
Villa have had somewhat of the opposite effect defensively; only five sides have given up fewer attempts on their own goal but only six sides have conceded more.
THE GAMEPLAN
With The Athletic’s Gregg Evans
Gregg Evans of The Athletic looks at how Aaron Danks might set Villa up in Hot off the Press: “If he follows Gerrard’s thinking, I think he will stick, pretty much, with four at the back, three in the midfield and then three attacking players - either two No.10s and a striker, or one No.10 and two strikers. I would expect Villa to play the same team they played against Chelsea”
TEAM NEWS
Thomas Frank's pre-match press conference
It is as you were for The Bees following Wednesday’s draw at home to Chelsea, with Pontus Jansson (hamstring), Thomas Strakosha, Aaron Hickey (both ankle), Christian Nørgaard and Charlie Goode (both knee) all out.
Aston Villa remain without Diego Carlos (Achilles), Boubacar Kamara (knee), Lucas Digne (heel), Jed Steer (Achilles), and Ludwig Augustinsson (thigh). Douglas Luiz was set to miss Sunday's clash but had his red card from Thursday night overturned.
THE BOSS
Aaron Danks
Following Steven Gerrard’s sacking on Thursday night, Aston Villa Academy coach Aaron Danks will be in the dugout on Sunday.
Danks began his coaching career with Birmingham City in 1999, firstly as a Community Football Development Officer, becoming a coach in their Academy four years later. In 2005, he began a 12-year association with West Bromwich Albion, progressing to Lead Development Phase Coach by the end of his time at The Hawthorns.
In 2016, Danks joined the FA as Lead National Specialist Coach at St George’s Park. He was part of the coaching staff that led England to the Under-20 World Cup title in 2017 and was heavily involved in the formation of the England DNA coaching plan.
Danks left the FA after four years, spending four months on the first-team coaching staff alongside Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht before joining Aston Villa as an assistant coach last September.
OPPOSITION VIEW
First Team coach Aaron Danks, who will take charge on Sunday, told avfc.co.uk “I’m looking for a response. We all know results and performances have not been to the levels we wanted; the players know that more than anybody.
"The message to them now is we have to move quickly, we have to reset our goals, reset our focus and get this club moving in a direction that we want it to. So, it’s one of positivity, one that we have to move forward.”
LAST TIME OUT
Aston Villa 1 Brentford 1
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Darren England
Assistants: James Mainwaring and Wade Smith
Fourth official: Michael Salisbury
VAR: Paul Tierney
Assistant VAR: Darren Cann
Sunday will be Darren England's 14th outing in charge of us, five of which came in the Premier League last season.
The 36-year-old joined the Select Group 1 of Premier League referees in 2020, having spent many years in the professional game as a linesman, which included running the line for the 2015 FA Cup Final between Aston Villa and Arsenal.
We’ve lost our last three under the Doncaster-born official, having only been on the wrong side of the result once in the previous ten.
We won our first two games last term, away at Wolverhampton Wanderers and at home to Everton, both of which saw Ivan Toney net from the penalty spot, before a hat-trick of away defeats at Brighton and Hove Albion, Manchester City, and Leicester City.
Aston Villa 22/23
137 fouls – second-most in Premier League
25 yellow cards – fifth in Premier League
1 red card – second-most in Premier League