Aston Villa's preparations for the 2021-22 Premier League season conclude on Saturday when La Liga giants Sevilla pay a visit to the West Midlands for a friendly battle.
Dean Smith's side ran out 3-0 winners against Bristol City in their most recent exhibition encounter, while Sevilla played out a 0-0 draw with Roma in Portugal last time out.
Match preview
A turbulent week has passed since Villa last took to the field for a friendly, as an 8,600-strong Ashton Gate crowd witnessed their beloved Bristol City succumb to goals from Jaden Philogene-Bidace, Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins during a resounding 3-0 win for Smith's side.
While the West Midlands outfit have also recorded victories over Walsall and Crewe Alexandra with clean sheets to boot, headlines are being made off the pitch rather than on it, as club captain and boyhood star Jack Grealish prepares to make a £100m switch to Manchester City ahead of the new season.
Keeping hold of the tricky attacker was always going to be an uphill battle for Villa - in spite of the fact that he penned a new deal until 2025 last summer - but the club's ever-ambitious owners have wasted no time in bolstering their attacking ranks.
Having already beaten Arsenal to the signature of Emiliano Buendia, Villa completed a £30m swoop for Leon Bailey from Bayer Leverkusen before surprising fans and journalists alike with the capture of Danny Ings from Southampton in midweek.
Whisper it quietly, but Smith's side may not even need Grealish to help them return to the promised land of European football, and a strong start to the league season is surely in order ahead of opening fixtures against Watford, Newcastle United and Brentford.
Sevilla have a much-coveted player of their own being tipped to complete a move elsewhere, although talks with Chelsea over a deal for Jules Kounde are thought to have hit a brick wall, and Julen Lopetegui could do without such widespread speculation before he leads his side through another Champions League campaign.
Outside contenders for the La Liga title during the majority of the 2020-21 campaign, Sevilla will not find out their Champions League opponents for another three weeks, but they have held their own against European opposition so far this summer.
After claiming back-to-back wins over Coventry City and Las Palmas during an explosive start to pre-season, Sevilla travelled to Algarve in Portugal for two friendlies against Paris Saint-Germain and Roma, drawing 2-2 with the former before a goalless stalemate with Jose Mourinho's side.
Navigating the summer period unbeaten would certainly be the ideal way to prepare for another top-four battle in the 2021-22 La Liga season, and Sevilla can look forward to three early winnable fixtures against Rayo Vallecano, Getafe and Elche before meeting Barcelona in gameweek four.
While Lopetegui may have lost highly-rated winger Bryan Gil to Tottenham Hotspur, he has been able to welcome Erik Lamela to the club as part of the deal, and the Argentine will be determined to make his swift return to England a memorable one.
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Team News
Grealish was pictured back in training with Villa earlier this week before City made great strides in their attempts to sign the attacker, who has surely played his final game in the claret and blue shirt.
Saturday's fixture may come too soon for Bailey or Ings to be involved, while Emi Buendia missed out against Bristol City due to a knock, but Smith ought to name as strong a lineup as possible with only 90 minutes of pre-season left to play.
Douglas Luiz is vying for the chance to win Olympic gold with Brazil and fellow midfielder Morgan Sanson remains plagued by a knee problem, while international finalists Emi Martinez and Tyrone Mings could get some minutes into their legs.
Sevilla remain without defender Diego Carlos as he seeks gold medal glory with Brazil alongside Luiz, while Oliver Torres and Luuk de Jong have not been pictured in training recently and are expected to miss out.
Kounde did not play a single minute against Roma amid links with Chelsea, but he remains part of the training squad and could be in contention for some minutes here, while Nemanja Gudelj's sending-off last time out means nothing for this friendly.
Argentinian duo Marcos Acuna and Papu Gomez have also returned to the fold following their successful Copa America exploits and should be in line for cameo roles at Villa Park.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Hause, Young; McGinn, Nakamba; Buendia, A. Ramsey, El Ghazi; Watkins
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Bono; Navas, Kounde, Rekik, Acuna; Jordan, Fernando, Rakitic; Suso, En-Nesyri, Ocampos
We say: Aston Villa 0-2 Sevilla
Both of these sides are mainly in the news for off-the-pitch happenings at present, but Villa are building something special in the West Midlands, even if a number of their top performers may not be ready for this game just yet.
In contrast, Sevilla have been able to boast a near full-strength squad in recent training sessions, and Lopetegui's men ought to finalise their preparations for the new campaign with a triumph on English soil.
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