Aston Villa meet Sheffield United tonight in a vital clash between two sides harbouring very different hopes for this season.

Villa will be pushing on for a top six finish and a place in the play-offs, whilst Sheffield United would surely see that as failure. They're focused on a place in the top two and a year in the Premier League.

It's a remarkable turnaround for the Blades in only their second season back in the Championship and is testament to the solid work Chris Wilder has put into his squad. He's blended a group of players into something far greater than the sum of its parts and has arguably overachieved this season.

Villa are the polar opposite and have failed to deliver on the promise held amongst their squad. They've got some fine players, but haven't been able to make that count in league action.

What would a combined XI look like though? FLW picks our best mash-up below.

We've given Sheffield United an advantage by using their back five formation, because it's worked incredibly well all season. Villa's goalkeeping woes have been well documented, but Dean Henderson has been excellent for the Blades and gets the nod.

It would be hard to drop any of the Sheffield United back three, but we've done it. Chris Basham gets the go ahead for his experience, as does summer signing John Egan. It's impossible to leave out a player of James Chester's quality and that spells bad news for Jack O'Connell who would be on the bench. That would be a fearsome prospect for any side to try to break down.

On the flanks we'll keep George Baldock in from Sheffield United, but Neil Taylor gets the nod on the other side. Full backs have been an issue for Villa, but if Taylor is fit and firing he's certainly a top player.

We'd hold the midfield with the silky skills of John McGinn, far and away the best summer signing by Aston Villa, with a bank of three attacking players ahead of him.

Jack Grealish might be injured now, but we have him as an old-fashioned inside forward here, with his Villa teammate Anwar El-Ghazi on the other side. In the middle, Oliver Norwood gets the nod as he's been instrumental in Chris Wilder's automatic promotion hunt.

There's only one man who will play up front, 19 goals in 24 games is incredible and if we didn't pick Tammy Abraham we'd be utter fools. He's a class act and tops off a very exciting looking concept XI.