In this article, <a href="https://twitter.com/CoysFPL">@CoysFPL</a> (aka Dan) discusses his Premier League fantasy football tips for Aston Villa.
In this team preview series, Dan previews all 20 Premier League teams ahead of the 2022/23 season including season expectations, expected lineups, best player picks, under-the-radar gems and players to avoid.
Find all our other <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-team-previews">Premier League 2022/23 team previews here</a> &#8211; which will be continually updated as the season draws closer!
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<h2>Aston Villa 2022/23 season expectations</h2>
<div id="attachment_47635" style="width: 931px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47635" class="wp-image-47635 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Newcastle-Premier-League-table-1.jpg" alt="" width="921" height="574" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Newcastle-Premier-League-table-1.jpg 921w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Newcastle-Premier-League-table-1-300x187.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Newcastle-Premier-League-table-1-768x479.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Newcastle-Premier-League-table-1-610x380.jpg 610w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Newcastle-Premier-League-table-1-400x250.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 921px) 100vw, 921px" />Premier League table. Source: Google</div>
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Despite losing Jack Grealish last summer, there was a lot of optimism around Villa Park, with Danny Ings, Emiliano Buendia and Leon Bailey coming in as a collective replacement.
Villa didn&#8217;t start the season too badly. After a shock 3-1 loss at Watford on the first day, Villa went on to win three of the next five &#8211; including a win at <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-fantasy-football-tips-manchester-united-team-preview-2022-23">Old Trafford</a> &#8211; and comfortable home wins to <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-fantasy-football-tips-newcastle-team-preview-2022-23">Newcastle</a> and <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/the-best-everton-fpl-players-2022-23">Everton</a>.
But before they knew it, they lost five on the bounce and manager Dean Smith was dismissed.
In came Steven Gerrard, who led the side to a bit of a bounce, winning four in six and only narrowly losing to Man City and <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-fantasy-football-tips-liverpool-team-preview-2022-23">Liverpool</a>.
Form then dipped again, with the Villans winning just one of the next seven.
Their end to the season was relatively average, winning five and drawing three of the final 14.
That was despite the January arrivals of Philippe Coutinho and Lucas Digne.
Coutinho kicked into gear within 15 minutes of his Villa career, coming off the bench at 2-0 down to Manchester United to turn the game around and eventually score the equaliser.
That form continued, scoring four and assisting three in his first eight appearances. However, he managed just a single goal in the final 13 games of the season.
Gerrard did strengthen the side defensively in his time at the club. Only six sides had a better <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/a-simple-guide-to-opta-stats-for-fpl">expected goals</a> against (xGA) record per game (1.30), and only seven conceded fewer than their 1.26 per game.
At the other end of the pitch, Villa were distinctively average, averaging an expected goals (xG) of 1.36 and scoring 1.41 per game.
That expected record was just the 12th best record, although due to how clinical they were, only six sides scored more.
Despite what seemed like an average spell in charge, Villa picked up the ninth-most points during Gerrard&#8217;s spell, so a top-half finish is achievable this season.
Diego Carlos and Boubacar Kamara look like fantastic signings and show Villa&#8217;s intent on pushing for a European spot. They should boost an already decent defence.
I think Villa can improve on last year but a European spot looks like a step too far.
With the squad they have, anything but a top-half finish would be a complete failure.
See how Villa have performed in pre-season <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-pre-season-guide-2022-23">here</a>.
<h2>Aston Villa 2022/23 expected line-up</h2>
                  Martinez
Cash &#8211; Carlos &#8211; Mings &#8211; Digne
 Ramsey &#8211; Kamara &#8211; McGinn    
           Bailey &#8211; Coutinho
                  Watkins          
Emi Martinez will have no issues in retaining the number-one spot.
Matty Cash, Carlos and Digne are three of the few certain starters.
Tyrone Mings is expected to preferred to Ezri Konsa and Calum Chambers, although his spot in the side isn&#8217;t set in stone.
John McGinn will start the majority of games after being named club captain, as should Kamara.
Jacob Ramsey should at least start the season but is not guaranteed to start regularly.
Leon Bailey looks set to start the season in the first 11, after impressing in pre-season. Gerrard stated after the friendly with Manchester United that &#8220;if the league started tomorrow he&#8217;d be in my starting 11.&#8221;
Coutinho is pretty much a certain starter, which rather harshly leaves the likes of Buendia and Ings on the bench.
Ollie Watkins is slightly ahead of Ings in the pecking order and will start the season as the first-choice forward.
I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised to see Gerrard change the system to a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-1-2 based on the opposition.
<h2>Best Aston Villa forward for FPL</h2>
<h4>Ollie Watkins (£7.5m)</h4>
Watkins will go into the season as Gerrard&#8217;s first-choice number nine, despite strong competition in Danny Ings.
In Gerrard&#8217;s spell in charge, no Villa played recorded a higher xG (0.32), more shots in the box (2.04) or big chances (0.46) per game.
As well as that, only Coutinho racked up a higher expected assist (xA) tally per game than Watkins 0.17.
As a direct result, Watkins totalled the highest expected goal involvement (xGI) in the squad (0.49) and highest actual goal involvement (GI) (0.42) per game.
Only five forwards scored more goals per game than Watkins&#8217; 0.35 per game during Gerrard&#8217;s reign, and just six obtained a higher expected assist record per game.
I think there are better options at the same price, but I certainly wouldn&#8217;t completely write off Watkins as an asset either.
<h2>Best Aston Villa midfielder for FPL</h2>
<h4>Philippe Coutinho (£7.0m)</h4>
During Coutinho&#8217;s spell at the club, only Ings contributed to a higher percentage of goals than Coutinho&#8217;s 30%.
Ings was also the only player to register a higher xGI record per game than Coutinho&#8217;s 0.39.
No player in the Villa squad had more shots on target per game (0.84) and none beat his big chance creation (0.26) and xA (0.19) per game totals.
Coutinho&#8217;s underlying <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c="1" title="FPL Stats by OPTA - Player and Team Stats">stats</a> don&#8217;t compare very well to other midfielders, although you&#8217;d always expect him to outscore his xG because of the areas he shoots from.
I&#8217;m not really fussed by Coutinho as an asset. His <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c="1" title="FPL Stats by OPTA - Player and Team Stats">stats</a> were a bit underwhelming last season and I think there are better options in the game at a similar price.
<div id="attachment_47712" style="width: 907px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47712" class="size-full wp-image-47712" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Coutinho-shots.jpg" alt="" width="897" height="729" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Coutinho-shots.jpg 897w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Coutinho-shots-300x244.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Coutinho-shots-768x624.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Coutinho-shots-610x496.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 897px) 100vw, 897px" />Coutinho shots record</div>
<h2>Best Aston Villa defender for FPL</h2>
<h4>Matty Cash (£5.0m)</h4>
Cash was given plenty of freedom to get forward last season. No Villa defender finished with a higher xG per game, whilst only Digne beat his xA of 0.08.
His record of 0.17 xGI per game was the among the defensive ranks and 12th out of defenders in the league.
Meanwhile, his tally of shots, shots on target, shots in the box, xG and goals were all in the top 20 of all league defenders.
I think Cash is not only Villa&#8217;s best defensive asset but their best option as a whole and is certainly one to consider.
I can only see Villa keeping more clean sheets as a result of Carlos and Kamara&#8217;s arrival, which only enhances Cash&#8217;s prospects.
<div id="attachment_47713" style="width: 1276px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47713" class="wp-image-47713 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Defender-shots.jpg" alt="" width="1266" height="705" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Defender-shots.jpg 1266w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Defender-shots-300x167.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Defender-shots-1024x570.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Defender-shots-768x428.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Defender-shots-610x340.jpg 610w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Defender-shots-1080x601.jpg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 1266px) 100vw, 1266px" />Cash ranked fourth among defenders for shots on target</div>
<h2>Top under-the-radar Aston Villa players:</h2>
<h4>Lucas Digne (£5.0m)</h4>
After Digne&#8217;s arrival, no Villa defender produced a higher xA tally per game than Digne&#8217;s 0.13 and his 1.88 key passes per game were more than double what any Villa defender managed.
In fact, only Andrew Robertson (£7.0m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) made more key passes than that figure. That being said, more than 20 defenders created more big chances, and nine beat his xA.
I prefer Cash to Digne due to his extra goal threat but Digne is still a good option because of his creativity.
Leon Bailey (£5.0m)
Bailey has projected himself into Gerrard&#8217;s plans, after starting just seven games last season due to injuries and disappointing performances.
He still showed decent promise in the time he played. Out of Villa midfielders who played more than the equivalent of three 90 minutes, Bailey recorded the most shots in the box (1.31) and only Coutinho had more shots on target (0.95) and a higher xG (0.22) per 90 minutes.
Bailey will be hoping to replicate his Bundesliga form, where he averaged a goal involvement every 153 minutes in his final four seasons for Bayer Leverkusen.
He&#8217;ll be massively under-priced if he can repeat anything like that form &#8211; and now is the time to jump on him given his high chance of starts and good fixtures early on.
<h2>Aston Villa FPL players to avoid:</h2>
Ramsey may not start every game and only managed an xGI of less than 0.2 per game.
McGinn should start every game when fit but offers little goal threat. He had just 0.14 shots in the box and 0.08 expected goals per game last season.
It doesn&#8217;t make sense to go for Carlos with Cash and Digne at the same price, whilst Mings&#8217; spot in the side isn&#8217;t certain.
Ings and Buendia will be decent options if they can nail down spots in the starting 11 but don&#8217;t look like doing that anytime soon.
<h2>Aston Vila set-piece takers:</h2>
Aston Villa  corner, free-kick and penalty takers are all documented in our <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-set-piece-takers">Premier League set piece guide</a>. This piece is updated regularly.
As at the end of the 21/22 season, the Aston Villa set-piece takers were as follows:
Penalties: Ings, Watkins 
Direct free kicks: Coutinho, Douglas Luiz, Bailey, Digne 
Corners and indirect free kicks: Digne, Douglas Luiz, McGinn, Coutinho 
Aerial threats: Watkins, Mings, Ings, Konsa
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