Confirmed Aston Villa XI vs West Brom: Six key players return to hand Smith huge boost for crunch clash

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Aston Villa host West Bromwich Albion in the first leg of their Championship playoffs semi-final tie on Saturday, and they’ve been handed several boosts.

As seen in the club’s tweet below, they welcome Ahmed Elmohamady, Tyrone Mings, John McGinn, Jack Grealish, Anwar El Ghazi and Tammy Abraham back into the starting line-up.

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All six players have been influential figures in getting Villa to this stage this season, and so boss Dean Smith will be delighted to have them at his disposal after a combination of injury concerns and fitness issues.

In turn, Villa are as strong as possible for this encounter, as they look to take an advantage into the second leg at the Hawthorns on Tuesday night.

Having ended the season in great form, confidence and morale will be high at Villa Park as they will feel that they have momentum on their side, but as they found out last year in the Championship playoffs final at Wembley against Fulham, they still have plenty of work to do to earn promotion.

That heartbreak could serve as motivation for Villa as they will be desperate to avoid a similar setback, but time will tell if they can get past West Brom first to book a place back at Wembley to face either Leeds United or Derby County.

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