[long_read]

Aston Villa head to St Andrew’s this weekend to take on Birmingham City in the Second City derby.  

Dean Smith’s squad will be full of confidence after last weekend’s convincing win over Derby County, but the manager has a tough selection dilemma.

Tommy Elphick picked up an injury, which means that this weekend Smith is deprived of one of his centre-backs.

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Kortney Hause moving across from left-back is one option for the manager, whilst he’s admitted to Villa’s YouTube channel that he’s considering playing Mile Jedinak at right centre-back.

That’s a tactic Steve Bruce used earlier in the season, which brought plenty of criticism from the terraces.

And, if Smith was to do the same thing, he’d be leaving himself open to criticism.

Here at FLW, we take a look at three reasons why he simply must avoid playing Jedinak at centre-back…

[snack_break title="He’s out of position"]

The most obvious place to start is that Jedinak will be out of position.

He’s a central midfielder and that’s his best position.

A reshuffle is needed this weekend, but Jedinak shouldn’t be turned to.

[snack_break title="Potential fan backlash"]

Bruce was widely criticised for doing this and Smith is leaving himself open to the same treatment if things go badly.

Of course, Smith has more backing than Bruce did, but some faith will be lost in him if he goes with Jedinak.

[snack_break title="Che Adams"]

Adams has 21 goals to his name this season and is Birmingham’s biggest threat.

If he’s up against Jedinak this weekend he will look to isolate him and exploit his lack of pace.

The sensible option would be to pair Hause with Tyrone Mings – that pair has the ability to deal with Adams’ threat.

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