Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard has said he will field a strong team against Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup second round but left a question mark over whether highly rated youngster Cameron Archer will be involved or not.
Wanderers host the Premier League side at the University of Bolton Stadium with a place in the third round up for grabs. The reward for victory in the televised clash could be facing a top flight team involved in European competitions such as Liverpool or Manchester City.
Like Bolton, Villa go into the game on the back of a defeat. Gerrard's side suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday, which leaves them 13th in the Premier League table.
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Speculation surrounds the future of promising Villa striker Archer, who dazzled in the second half of last season on loan at Preston North End in the Championship. There is the potential he could be heading to Watford on loan.
But Gerrard gave an open to interpretation answer when asked if Archer could play a part against Wanderers. The Villa boss is set to name a strong team for the encounter.
Asked if Archer is pushing to be involved against Bolton on Tuesday, Gerrard told BirminghamLive : "Very much so... But there's also a chance that he might not be involved at all so I'll leave you with that one!
Previewing Villa's trip to Bolton in midweek, Gerrard said: "Listen, everyone will want to play in this game. I'm sure they will, especially after the feeling of losing [vs Crystal Palace]. We'll dust ourselves down from the result and we will be strong, we'll pick a strong team.
"I think when the TV cameras come to games like this you know what the outside world are after... We need to respect that and protect ourselves from that. We need to bounce back from [Crystal Palace] and put ourselves into the next round. That's the next challenge for the players and we'll treat this game with serious importance.
"There will be changes, of course, because the game is close enough for us to try and freshen it up and energise the squad and the team. There won't be wholesale changes and there won't be, 'Oh it's the League Cup, let's make all kinds of changes'. We'll be strong."
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