Aston Villa vs Brentford

Aston Villa vs Brentford: Less than 72 hours after Steven Gerrard was sacked as manager, Villa will return to action when they host the Bees at Villa Park.

Chelsea have gone to a back 4 with the trio of Kovacic, Jorginho and Loftus-Cheek in midfield. As for Manchester United, yet another Cristiano Ronaldo saga has dominated the last few days as he walked off early against Tottenham after being an unused sub and will not be in the squad to face Chelsea. Chelsea head to RB Salzburg on Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League and then head to Brighton on Saturday, Oct. Chelsea signed him in the summer and he’s been on loan back at Chicago Fire. The ball just hasn’t dropped to Raheem Sterling in the right areas on a few occasions. Casemiro and Eriksen class gives United sturdy foundation: The experienced duo of Eriksen and Casemiro got United off to a fine start as they ticked things over nicely in midfield and gave United a foundation to get something from the game. Rashford, Aubameyang struggle: The forwards on both teams struggled to have an impact and perhaps both Chelsea and Manchester United will be better without a true No. Manchester United host Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League on Thursday and then host West Ham on Sunday, Oct. United and Chelsea both tried to leave as many forward players forward as possible and it turned the game into a bit of a stalemate. United dominated midfield early on and got the ball to Sancho, Bruno Fernandes and Antony often and Chelsea couldn’t get going. Potter’s decision to bring on Kovacic after 35 minutes gave Chelsea the control they wanted as they switched to a back four and went to a 4-2-3-1. The back four and two holding midfielders are settled, while Fabio Vieira looks likely to start in an attacking role.