Dean Smith’s Aston Villa will face Swansea City in the Championship this afternoon. Aston Villa will be looking to return ways in the Championship this afternoon when they take on Swansea City at Villa Park. Villa will head into the match against Welsh outfit Swansea on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Millwall away from home at The Den in the league. The Villans are 15th in the league table at the moment with 15 points from 12 matches, four points behind sixth-placed Nottingham Forest. Dean Smith is the new Villa manager, and he will be determined to win his first match in charge of the Villans. Roy Keane and the growing links to Celtic Meanwhile, Swansea currently find themselves 11th in the Championship table with 17 points from 12 matches. The Swans, who got relegated from the Premier League at the end of the last season, are also aiming to finish in the top six of the league table this season. This is how Villa will line up for their Championship game against Swansea at Villa Park this afternoon: This content could not be loaded Team news: Dean Smith names his first team as #AVFC Head Coach.#PartOfThePride pic.twitter.com/0iei3jVfYY — Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) October 20, 2018 In other news, 'He wants to come to Arsenal': Campbell says he's 'hearing' 24-year-old wants Emirates move<doc-sep>The latest Swansea City news sent straight to your inbox Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Graham Potter will have a number of familiar faces sitting not too far from him at Villa Park today, but he won't be expecting their voices to be cheering on Swansea City and himself. The 43-year-old hails from Birmingham - near Solihull to be exact - and a number of his school friends will be in attendance today as his Swansea City side look to spoil Dean Smith’s first game in charge of Aston Villa. It promises to be a challenging afternoon with a full house expected to cheer on the new management team following the departure of Steve Bruce, who had a cabbage thrown at him by one disgruntled supporter in his final game against Preston. And Potter knows if Swansea can pull off a notable victory, his mates and families might well be cursing him rather than praising him for the job he is doing at the Welsh club. “My school friends are Villa supporters and they’re in the Villa end. It’s better they stay there than go in the away end really,” he said with a chuckle. “They won’t be my friends for 90 minutes and they’ll probably be saying a few words to me when I come out the tunnel. “They’re going to be sitting right there, so if a cabbage comes out again I’ll know where it’s come from! “I think one of them is a season ticket holder, the rest are just coming up and there’s about 10 of them in total with children and family. They’ll add to the atmosphere, which should be great. “Villa Park is one of the best grounds in the country. I am not a Villa fan but I have been there a fair bit. "The Holte End is fantastic. The only thing you could say about Villa is that it can go quiet quickly, but I don’t think it will at the weekend. “No disrespect to Steve Bruce, but if he was still there the atmosphere would be different. That’s the challenge for us.” Meanwhile Potter, who still has a photo of him standing inside the European Cup trophy alongside Ken McNaught and Peter Withe following Villa’s famous 1982 triumph, had something of a busman’s holiday over the recent international break. He and assistant Billy Reid were at the Principality Stadium to watch Wales lose to Spain, a side the Swans boss admits serve as an inspiration for the sort of football he wants to see his teams play. “I went to see Wales play Spain and also Wales Under-21’s against Switzerland. The Spain game was my first time at Principality Stadium and I had to fight my way through the crowd to get in,” said Potter, who received an honorary doctorate from Mid Sweden University for his leadership and success while at previous club Ostersunds. “It was a masterclass from Spain in terms of their positional play. It was great for me to see two of my players playing, and it was good for them. “You have to admire their approach and how they control the game tactically. They were a level above on the night and it was a learning experience for the young Welsh boys. “It was tough for Connor Roberts and Declan John playing wingbacks against a 4-3-3 in terms of when to press. It was very brave of Wales to play that way and they’ll get better from that. "Spain are a source of inspiration to me, definitely. "Rodri was 100 per cent in his pass completion and it was a masterclass from him in terms of positional play. I don’t think we appreciate that as much over here, but Wales couldn’t get near them. “I got tickets through Swansea and I was rushing to get there, I had tickets in one of the stands. I was towards the top and it was really nice to see someone else’s problems. The game looks so easy from up there! “I went with Billy and it was a good game to go to.”<doc-sep>
It’s October and Aston Villa have a new Head Coach. This happens quite often, doesn’t it? Dean Smith, from Great Barr, takes the reigns at his boyhood club to begin what many Villa fans are hoping will be the start of a revolution at Villa - no longer toxic, but the staleness remains. That hasn’t stopped Villa riding high on a wave of optimism heading into this match, despite the passing of former Chairman, Sir Doug Ellis. Villa will do their best to remember him with a win against today’s opponents Swansea City. A big thanks to Bennett Berry for creating all of our match-day images throughout the season. Give him a follow. We’re here. Kick-off commences soon, and you can find out how to watch Villa vs Swansea City below. UTFV TV & Streaming Location: Villa Park, Birmingham England Kick-off time: 15.00 pm UK, 10.00 am Eastern, 7.00 am Pacific Weather: A Mild autumn afternoon in B6 - 16c. Open Match Thread: Join in the comments below! Predictions welcome. Available TV: None Available video streaming: AVTV for all viewers outside of the UK and Ireland. Other listings are available from livesoccertv.com. Available radio: BBC WM 95.6 FM (not online), AVTV (If audio doesn’t work, try using Safari). Twitter: You can find our live updates @7500toHolte, and we’d also recommend @VillaReport for updates as well. Injuries & Suspensions Aston Villa will miss Keinan Davis while Mile Jedinak is a doubt Aston Villa squad Team news: Dean Smith names his first team as #AVFC Head Coach.#PartOfThePride pic.twitter.com/0iei3jVfYY — Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) October 20, 2018 Swansea City squad Live twitter stream