Aston Villa are back in action this afternoon as they travel to south London to face Crystal Palace.

The Villains will be hoping for back-to-back victories in the Premier League upon their visit to Selhurst Park after last week’s hard-fought victory over Everton.

Steven Gerrard will be pleased to have three points on the board early on, but the Eagles will see this as an opportunity to claim their first win of the season after facing Liverpool and Arsenal in their opening two fixtures.

Diego Carlos’ terrible injury will be the main talking point going into this game, and the Villa manager will be looking for someone to step up in the defender's potential nine-month absence.

It is poised to be another tough game, but the Midlanders can feel buoyed after their home win last Saturday.

How will Gerrard set up his team going into their second away game of the season? Here’s how we think Villa will line up against Palace this afternoon…

Emiliano Martinez is unlikely to be dropped and made a couple of impressive late stops deny a late Everton equaliser last week.

Due to Diego Carlos’ ruptured Achilles, Tyrone Mings will retain his place but will likely be joined by Ezri Konsa as they resume a familiar partnership from last season.

Matty Cash will continue at right back, whereas Lucas Digne will be hoping to atone for last week’s own goal against his former club on the other flank.

Boubacar Kamara is also expected to start after a solid 7.0 Sofascore-rated performance against Everton, with an exciting midfield battle against Cheick Doucoure in the offing. Captain John McGinn will sit alongside the relentless Jacob Ramsey, with the former earning the highest Sofascore rating of anyone against the Toffees a week ago.

One man who came off the bench to make a big impact in that game was Emi Buendia. We think Gerrard might be tempted to drop the “wizard” Philippe Coutinho for the Argentine, who scored their second goal last week.

The £125k-per-week Brazilian has barely threatened in their opening two fixtures of the season, with only one shot taken so far, and his manager may prefer the dynamism of Buendia to compete with Palace’s hard-working core.

With two assists and a goal between them against Everton, Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins will likely start up top once more.