Frederic Guilbert and three other Aston Villa players with most to prove in Australia

Steven Gerrard formally named his 33-man squad for Aston Villa’s tour of Australia which gets underway tomorrow in Brisbane against Leeds. As we know, the head coach made the decision to leave Kortney Hause, Carney Chukwuemeka and Anwar El Ghazi all back at Bodymoor Heath due to injury, contract issues and family reasons respectively.

Gerrard, of course, remains keen to improve his squad depth even further with Swedish international left-back Ludwig Augustinsson becoming summer signing No.5 after he joined from Sevilla this past week. The head coach still wants another midfielder to complement what he’s already got while a new striker remains on the club’s radar ahead of big decisions being made over both Cameron Archer and Keinan Davis.

However, looking ahead to the club’s first-ever match Australia tomorrow, picks out the players with arguably the most to prove across Villa’s three games against Leeds (July 17), Brisbane Roar (July 20) and, lastly, Manchester United (July 23).

It’s fair to suggest that the popular Frenchman is in the Last Chance Saloon knowing his contract is up next summer. Guilbert was missing from last week’s win over Walsall while he’s now had two weeks to leave a lasting first impression on the manager. The 27-year-old remains in a shoot-out with young Kaine Kesler Hayden as to who’ll get the nod to challenge Matty Cash for the right-back shirt for the season ahead. Guilbert, who last played for Villa at Barrow 11 months ago, will be desperate to impress over the next seven days.

All eyes will be transfixed on the immensely talented midfielder tomorrow. Gerrard has continued to rave about his summer signing from Marseille having watched him at close quarters inside the Stade Velodrome back