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Aston Villa make the trip back down to Chelsea on Wednesday night looking to make it into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

Dean Smith’s side’s last visit to Stamford Bridge ended in a 3-0 defeat, and the Villa boss will no doubt be tempted to shake things up in terms of his team selection, especially when you consider Manchester United loom on the horizon at the weekend.

With that in mind, below is a look at how Villa might line up when they face Chelsea tonight.

In goal, Jed Steer could play his second game in as many weeks, with Emi Martinez being given the chance to have a proper rest following his late arrival at the weekend in order to play the game against Everton.

In front of him, Tyrone Mings may be axed from the starting line-up to give Kortney Hause an opportunity, with the 28-year-old having had a day to forget when the two sides met in the Premier League a couple of weeks ago.

Ashley Young come could into the team in place of Matt Targett, while with Axel Tuanzebe ineligible to face his parent side United at the weekend, he is a shoo-in to start tonight.

The midfield could see Morgan Sanson make a rare appearance in the starting line-up – something we’ve called on Smith to do here on FFC – while he could be joined in the engine room by one of Villa’s brightest academy prospects in Carney Chukwuemeka.

Further forward, Jaden Philogene-Bidace should feature out wide with Bertrand Traore on the opposite flank, while Emi Buendia will be hoping to start just behind Ollie Watkins after only making the bench for the game against the Toffees at the weekend.

Predicted XI: Steer; Cash, Tuanzebe, Hause, Young; Sanson, Chukwuemeka; Traore, Buendia, Philogene-Bidace; Watkins.

Meanwhile, Dean Smith must start this Villa “warrior” vs Chelsea…

The Lahore Test will be the last of Mahela Jayawardene’s tenure as Sri Lankan captain but he is confident that he will not be distracted by emotion

Cricinfo staff28-Feb-2009
Mahela Jayawardene: “It’s not a bigger deal that I’ll be leading for the last time” © AFP
The Lahore Test will be the last of Mahela Jayawardene’s tenure as Sri Lankan captain but he is confident he won’t be distracted by emotion and will remain focused on the task of winning the series which is currently level after the draw in Karachi.”I don’t think it’s a distraction. I’m not feeling anything other than normal,” Jayawardene said on the eve of the match. “It’s a crucial Test match for us, so the focus and emphasis is on winning.”It’s not a bigger deal that I’ll be leading for the last time. We had a successful one-day tournament in Pakistan and this is the second half of the tournament. It will be ideal for us to win both series so that will be our focus.”Jayawardene took over as captain from Marvan Atapattu in 2006 and has led Sri Lanka in 27 Tests, winning 15 and losing seven. He first captained in one-day internationals in 2004 and went on to lead his team in 94 matches, winning 54 and losing 35. He said that reaching the World Cup final in 2007 was a “privilege and honour” and it was “probably the highest” point of his captaincy. He picked the home one-day series defeats to India and England as the “most disappointing”.Jayawardene had announced his decision to step down before the series began and said he took made the decision because “it was the right time to step down”. He did not want another opportunity to lead Sri Lanka in the future.”Hopefully the captaincy opportunity won’t arise because I think we have good guys to lead us in the future,” Jayawardene said. “I made the decision purely on cricket matters thinking it is the right time for me to go, and for somebody else to take us to next level.”

Ricky Ponting will be rested from Australia’s next two matches despite the first-up defeat to New Zealand as the struggling team welcomes more new talent in Callum Ferguson and Adam Voges. Ponting has not had a break since the pre-season tour of India but the timing is strange considering the number of problems his team is having.Australia lost on the final ball in Perth to follow their one-day and Test defeats to South Africa in a summer where their aura has faded. “Ricky is keen to play every game and these next two games were no exception,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. “However, it was always planned that Ricky would have a break at this time.”A 13-man squad was picked for Friday’s second contest in Melbourne and Sunday’s fixture in Sydney. “While this is a difficult decision, given the current performance of the team, in our view it is essential that Ricky has an opportunity to prepare for the forthcoming South Africa tour,” Hilditch said. The side leaves in two weeks for the Test and one-day campaigns.”My absolute priority is to the Australian cricket team,” Ponting was quoted as saying by AAP. “I wanted to play on through the coming week and continue to lead the team in the series against New Zealand. However, the decision was made by the national selection panel as part of their plan to rest all players at appropriate times during this year. I have reluctantly accepted their decision and will be eagerly awaiting my return to the team.”Ponting’s absence and Shaun Marsh’s hamstring injury, which he picked up while fielding in Perth, left two gaps and Ferguson and Voges were the fortunate ones. “Both are exciting young players with the attitude and talent to succeed at this level,” Hilditch said. A new opener will have to be found, with James Hopes, Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke, who is the captain, possible options alongside the new talent.Voges scored 80 not out in front of Hilditch for Western Australia on Sunday to remind the selectors of his talents. An attacking batsman, Voges, 29, will hope to add to his two Twenty20 games and single ODI in 2007.Ferguson, from South Australia, is 24 and has 302 runs in the FR Cup this season and had a strike-rate of 140 in the Twenty20 competition. At the end of last summer Ferguson sat down with his manager, father and Mark Sorell, South Australia’s coach, and decided to go to England to play league cricket to “get back into the habit of getting big scores”.Ever since he was the vice-captain of the Australia Under-19 side, Ferguson has been earmarked by good judges as a man likely to one day play for his country. However, until this season he had a tendency of failing to build on his starts and he said 2008-09 had been a breakthrough summer.”It’s been pleasing to be able to convert a few scores that I’ve managed to get off to a good start and then go on with it,” Ferguson said after learning of his call-up. “It’s probably been a stumbling point for me in the 18 months leading up to this season. It has been a bit of a breakthrough.”He learnt of his selection five minutes after being dismissed for 115 in South Australia’s Sheffield Shield loss to Victoria at the MCG, where the national selector Merv Hughes had also watched him make 81 in the first innings. It was his coach Sorell who delivered the happy news, which shocked Ferguson as much as anyone.”Thrilled to bits,” he said. “I haven’t had a chat to any of the selectors [although] obviously we’ve got Jamie Cox in South Australia so I see him around a fair bit. But this is a surprise for me.”He has grown into a stylish performer, but Ferguson said in December he was a “very boring batsman” as a child. “Because I wasn’t a big kid naturally, I’d always scored quite slowly because I couldn’t hit the boundaries or the sixes,” he said. “I never really thought of myself as a flashy player, but I did at times struggle with gear changes, being able to go up a gear when you do get some loose bowling and then bringing it down a gear when they’re doing well.”Australia squad David Warner, James Hopes, Callum Ferguson, Michael Clarke (capt), David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Cameron White, Adam Voges, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, Ben Hilfenhaus, Shaun Tait.

When a team comes calling from south of the border Celtic supporters must throw out a collective groan.

Their supporters know that more often than not, the player will take the juicy pay increase and walk through the Parkhead exit door.

It’s an eventuality that’s fallen at the feet of Fraser Forster, Victor Wanyama, Stuart Armstrong, Kieran Tierney and Virgil van Dijk to name a few.

Sadly, however, they’re now in danger of losing their young stars to English football too.

The latest figure who could move south is someone who’s yet to earn a first-team appearance; Leo Hjelde.

He’s fielded interest from Leeds throughout the summer and now a deal is on the verge of completion.

It will be a huge disappointment to lose him, especially after he was compared to Virgil van Dijk.

Yet, Ange Postecoglou can soften that blow by nurturing and unleashing Dane Murray. The 18-year-old broke into the first-team during pre-season and even played in Champions League qualifying.

Originally a central midfielder, the teenager has now become a centre-back and it’s in that role that Postecoglou entrusts him.

Speaking about playing him against Midtjylland, the boss said: “I watched him in training and he is a young kid, not just with football potential but personality and character that belies his age. I was quite happy to trust him out there and it was an important stage, we were down to ten men and we had to work very hard.”

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Calm and composed, Murray looks to be an exceptional young player with a high ceiling. Another man effusive with his praise is Stephen Welsh: “Dane was fantastic, both on the ball and defensively… he made me feel old,”  the defender commented after the draw with Midtjylland.

He completed 87% of his passes during that match and also prevailed in 100% of his aerial duels. Clearly unfazed by the big occasion, Hjelde’s departure should enable a clearer pathway for him at first-team level.

The new manager has already spoken of how keen is to integrate home-grown talent and that should start with Murray.

Alongside a player like Carl Starfelt, he certainly has the ideal player to craft his game with. Celtic supporters should be extremely excited about his future.

AND in other news, Celtic keen on signing “incredible” SPFL talent, he could be their new Ajer…

by 35 runs
Scorecard
Baluchistan’s bowlers shrugged off the beating they took against North West Frontier Province to run through Sind’s batting on the first day of their second-round match. Their batsmen too put on a much-improved performance to leave Baluchistan trailing by 35 runs with six wickets in hand.After they chose to field, Baluchistan fast bowler Abdur Rauf struck two early blows, removing the in-form Khalid Latif, and Rizwan Ahmed. Naumanullah was the only batsman to resist as Kamran Hussain made further inroads into the Sind batting; Hussain got rid of the formidable middle-order trio of Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam and captain Shahid Afridi cheaply. Left-arm medium-pacer Azharullah then made short work of the lower order to limit Sind to 126.Baluchistan’s batsmen, led by a resolute unbeaten 40 by Usman Tariq, had moved along to 88 for 1 but lost three wickets for three runs to end a day of domination poorly.
Scorecard
Salman Butt slammed 155 – his fourth century in five Pentangular matches – against a Federal Areas bowling line-up that included Shoaib Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir and Ifthikar Anjum to guide Punjab to 306.Opener Butt hit 20 fours on the way to his 13th first-class hundred before being run out by a direct hit from Umar Amin. Butt received support from Khurram Shehzad (41), the pair adding 104 for the third wicket. The only other significant contribution came from No. 7 Mansoor Amjad, who made a 76-ball 37. A lower-order collapse – the last five wickets fell for 22 runs – prevented Punjab from reaching a more substantial total.Tanvir and Shoaib took two wickets each but the Federal Areas bowling was unable to keep the runs under control and Punjab scored at a brisk 3.70 runs per over.