Aston Villa reporter Ashley Preece reckons that Bertrand Traore could be the biggest casualty from Dean Smith's recent formation switch and summer recruitment.

What has Smith changed?

Following the signing of Danny Ings from Southampton, which Villa's summer spending to £91m, Villa opted to change to a 3-5-2 having played a more familiar 4-2-3-1 for the best part of two seasons.

The arrival of Ings meant that Smith has two quality strikers at his disposal and whilst Ollie Watkins played wide left for large parts of his career at Brentford, since he returned from injury, Watkins and Ings have played alongside each other up front.

They're yet to click, though, with Watkins' equaliser in the defeat at Tottenham on Sunday the first time either have found the net in their four matches starting together.

The formation change means that Villa's width is now coming from wing-backs Matty Cash and Matt Targett, which has meant Traore has been restricted to a bit-part role this season.

He played the final 10 minutes at Spurs but is yet to start a Premier League game this term and has played just 54 minutes in total.

Traore did start the Carabao Cup defeat at Chelsea last month, but Preece is concerned about his game-time moving forward despite calling him a fans' favourite.

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What did Preece say?

When asked whether Traore might be the biggest casualty of Villa's summer recruitment, he told GIVEMESPORT: "It's a good shout, especially with this new system, you could be right there. He got his minutes against Chelsea and came off.

"It will be interesting to see where Traore plays, the Villa fans like him a lot, very good on the eye and Smith said he can play in a number of positions. Smith said he can play up top. It will be interesting to see his game-time from now until the festive period, he's got the ACON in January."

What can Traore do?

Right now, all the former Lyon man can do is remain patient. He has the current international break to get his head down and impress Smith, and hope that when he gets an opportunity, he takes it.

Should Villa have progressed in the Carabao Cup, he would have most likely started in the next round, but unless Smith reverts back to a back-four, it's set to be a frustrating time for the wide man.