Aston Villa v Middlesbrough: Key defender misses crunch play-off tie through injury

Tony Pulis has been forced into a defensive reshuffle after Daniel Ayala was ruled out with a knee injury.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th May 2018, 19:00 BST
Updated 15th May 2018, 19:01 BST
Daniel Ayala.Daniel Ayala.
Daniel Ayala.

Dael Fry, 20, was drafted into the side for the Championship play-off semi-final second leg at Villa Park, the only change for Boro with Pulis keeping faith with Britt Assombalonga up front.

Villa lead 1-0 from the first leg at the Riverside thanks to Mile Jedinak's header. They are also forced into one change, Ahmed Elmohamady misses out through injury with James Bree recalled to the side.

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Away goals do not count in the play-offs. If the scores are level on aggregate at full-time there will be extra time and then penalties.

There was a surprise return to the Boro bench for former Aston Villa striker Rudy Gestede, the striker has been out injured and hasn't played since the end of February.

Boro: Randolph; Shotton, Fry, Gibson (C), Friend; Clayton; Traore, Howson, Besic, Downing; Assombalonga.

Boro subs: Konstantopoulos, Fabio, Cranie, Leadbitter, Harrison, Bamford, Gestede.

Aston Villa: Johnstone; Bree, Chester, Terry, Hutton; Jedinak, Hourihane; Snodgrass, Grealish, Adomah; Grabban.

Villa subs: Bunn, Samba, Whelan, Bjarnason, Onamah, Hogan, Kodjia

Related topics:Aston VillaMiddlesbroughTony PulisJames Bree