Villa new man Samatta will front up tonight with Wembley in sight
ASTON VILLA are ready to throw £8.5million new signing Ally Samatta straight into a Wembley mission.
The 27-year-old Tanzania international looks set to start tonight’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Leicester at Villa Park.
Manager Dean Smith says Samatta has settled in brilliantly over the past few days following his move from Belgian club Genk.
The forward speaks excellent English and Smith is ready to pitch him into the action with the game in the balance at 1-1 after the first leg.
Smith said: “He’s settled in very well, as you would expect because there’s a good group in that dressing room.
“But his personality and character have also helped him, too, because he’s very bubbly and very determined and he wants to do well.
“He’s done all the work, so he’s available. It promises to be a great atmosphere because things are so finely balanced.
“If somebody had said beforehand that we would be even-stevens going into the match at home, I certainly would have taken it.”
Smith says he has been put in a dilemma given his side have coped so well in three of the four games they have played without a recognised striker.
They battled to a well-earned draw at Leicester in the first leg, drew at Brighton and beat Watford, with the only cause for alarm being the 6-1 home mauling by Manchester City.
Smith said: “That apart, the lads have made a really good fist of it so I have to bear that in mind.
“It’s been a case where probably the opposition have found it hard to work out
ALLY SAMATTA
BORN: December 23, 1992, Dar es Salam COUNTRY: Tanzania
POSITION: Striker
He will become the first Tanzanian to feature in the Premier League when he makes his debut, with his home country becoming the 117th different nation to be represented in the competition.
He scored against Liverpool in the Champions League in November as Genk were beaten 2-1.
what we were going to do. But I’d love to get to Wembley and play City for an opportunity to put things right, knowing what went wrong atVilla Park.”
But Smith will be hoping his new man can show that he has what it takes to thrive on the big stage.
He said: “I’ve been a spectator at Villa Park for semi-finals and the atmosphere can be vibrant.We’re looking forward to it and we’ve chance.
“This club have won the competition five times, so there’s a history there and it would be magnificent to go through.”
Smith says he is well aware of the threat posed by Jamie Vardy and stand-in Kelechi Iheanacho and has been planning for all options.
He said: “Vardy is the top scorer in the division so we know exactly how well he’s been doing.
“He’s a top player with lots of qualities. I thought we kept him fairly quiet in the first leg but he’s someone who always poses a threat.
“Young Iheanacho has shown how much he has really improved over the last month or so as well.
“To get to a major domestic cup final in my first full season would be magnificent.
“We know just how we were feeling last season with the play-off final, what a great place Wembley is to go and the feel-good factor it brings.”
ASTON VILLA (probable): Reina; Hause, Mings, Nakamba, Luiz, Targett; Grealish, El Ghazi, Samatta. given ourselves
areally good
Konsa;
Guilbert,
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