As Aston Villa prepare to take on Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Tuesday, Roberto Di Matteo has a big selection dilemma on his hands.

The usually reliable and consistent Tommy Elphick has been drastically lacking form.

The experience he has at this level has not shown yet and he has made a number of high profile errors at the back for the Villains.

A few Aston Villa fans were already calling for him to be dropped before he scored a calamitous own goal against Newcastle and almost gifted them another when caught in possession shortly after.

Roberto Di Matteo now must make a difficult decision when he chooses his defenders for the clash against Bristol City.

Tammy Abraham is the top goalscorer in the Championship and has already bagged ten goals in all competitions this year.

The last thing Aston Villa need is an out-of-form defender trying to cope with him.

Here are TWO pros and TWO cons to Aston Villa dropping Tommy Elphick for their next game...

PRO 1: Plenty of alternatives

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Aston Villa are not light in the defensive regions.

Tommy Elphick has not been playing well and there a number of others who could step in and play at centre half instead of him. Nathan Baker, Micah Richards and James Chester are all very experienced in the top two flights of English football and are more than capable of filling in.

Roberto Di Matteo shouldn't be afraid of shuffling his pack to send a message to those not performing very well and make Elphick earn his place back.

CON 1: Let him settle first

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Maybe dropping him after just a handful of games is a bit hasty.

Elphick is clearly a competent defender at this level - otherwise he wouldn't have racked up almost 300 football league appearances for Brighton and then Bournemouth.

Perhaps di Matteo needs to keep playing him so that he settles into his new surroundings, gets to know his team and the style of play a bit better and then the performances will follow.

He won't learn all that from sitting on the bench.

PRO 2: Quality over passion

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Yes, Tommy Elphick embodies passion and leadership on the field but that's not enough to warrant a starting place on its own.

Yes, he might have his ritual where he taps the goalpost but that doesn't make him any better as a footballer.

Especially after such a slow start from Elphick and the team, Di Matteo desperately needs to select his best players so that the Villains can start picking up points and climbing up the league.

He needs to go with quality over passion and if that means dropping the 29-year-old, then so be it.

CON 2: Lack of leaders without him

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Tommy Elphick is the captain of Aston Villa and he is a leader on the pitch.

He organises the defence and rallies the troops when heads are down.

If he is not on the field of play, then it is hard to see who could step up to this role.

Micah Richards last season showed that he is not captain material and Nathan Baker is a bit too hot-headed.

Maybe Di Matteo is putting his faith in Elphick because his leadership skills are worthy enough of a starting role?