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Dean Smith must make an unthinkable decision and drop James Chester for the visit of Hull City, after the 29-year-old’s woeful game at Wigan.
On the chalkboard
No player has started more for Villa so far this season, with central defender Chester only missing one starting XI of a possible 27 in the Championship.
The Welshman has been a key man for both Steve Bruce and Smith since his appointment, but against Wigan showed a side of himself that would be best kept off the field.
Chester is suffering from a niggling knee issue, but it showed massively on Saturday, as the 29-year-old put in his second-worst performance of the season – only his 54 minutes against Preston in October returned a worse WhoScored rating.
WhoScored deemed the 35-cap international to only be worth a 5.9 at the weekend after he failed to register a single successful tackle and lost more aerial duels than he won – his only redeeming feature against Wigan was a game-high six clearances.
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Finally has an alternative
Part of the reason why Chester has featured so heavily for Villa this season is through a lack of alternatives.
Axel Tuanzebe, who is currently out injured, has been his most regular partner, but until Tommy Elphick was recalled heading into the New Year, the next men up were Mile Jedinak, who is a defensive midfielder, and right-back Alan Hutton.
Now that Elphick is back in Birmingham and the loan signing of Kortney Hause from Wolverhampton Wanderers has gone through, Smith can finally take Chester out of the starting XI and let his knee heal.
Smith must be careful
It would be a seriously risky move for Smith to take out the rock in his defence, but with Chester’s injury causing the defender to struggle, he would be better off trying his luck with Hause and Elphick as a partnership.
Besides, Smith has already accepted that the Wolves man struggled on his debut and thought his performance showed signs of rustiness. That is only natural when you are playing your first game in a back four since May 2017 and first match in general since September.