Express & Star

Steve Bruce set to give Aston Villa youngsters another Carabao Cup chance

Steve Bruce is poised to give Villa’s teenage stars and fringe players a run-out in tonight’s Carabao Cup clash with Middlesbrough.

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The manager will use the third-round tie as an opportunity to rest key men as Villa hit the midway point of a busy and important month.

Youngsters Callum O’Hare, Jake Doyle-Hayes and Mitch Clark are all expected to feature after impressing in wins over Colchester and Wigan in the earlier rounds.

Tommy Elphick, Ritchie De Laet, James Bree and even Gabriel Agbonlahor, who have all struggled for regular game time, could also get a run out.

“Some need to play in the Carabao Cup,” said Bruce. “It’s a platform I have used for the younger ones but others need a game, like Tommy Elphick. We will look at that and we will pick a team that will hopefully win.”

Villa head into the game, their second meeting with Boro in the space of a week, on a six-game unbeaten run in all competitions, with the pressure on Bruce having been lifted by Saturday’s 3-0 win at Barnsley.