With the Championship season beginning in a week’s time, this is Nigel Pearson’s final chance to determine his preferred starting XI for the visit of Blackpool on August 7.
Pearson has certainly had plenty of opportunities to experiment ahead of his first full season in charge, with his side already playing five teams so far this summer.
After drawing 0-0 with Celtic and 3-3 with Portsmouth, the Robins saw off MK Dons 3-1 and then beat Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle 4-0 and 1-0 respectively.
Those most recent two matches were played at the same time on Tuesday, with Pearson splitting his squad in half.
As pointed out by Pearson after that Devon double-header, fitness is the most important thing at this stage, and City have no injury concerns to report back.
This visit of Villa will provide a step-up in quality, certainly compared to the four games since taking on Celtic, though the visitors are a week behind in their preparations.
The Villans eased to a 4-0 win over Walsall in their first friendly, a game in which boss Dean Smith missed due to COVID-19 regulations, before losing at Stoke.
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Smith, who this week saw assistant John Terry depart the club as he looks to become a manager in his own right, fielded a mix of senior regulars and academy youngsters last week.
Thursday’s friendly with Nottingham Forest was called off because of some positive coronavirus cases in the Reds’ camp, so Villa have just two more friendlies to play.
Next week’s clash with Sevilla will likely see Smith field his strongest XI, but for now it will be a case of giving as many available players some minutes as possible.
