View: Leon Bailey must now be first name on teamsheet for Aston Villa
Aston Villa will return to action on Friday evening when they host Southampton at Villa Park looking to pick up another positive result.
Steven Gerrard’s side are coming off the back of a brilliant draw against Manchester City in a game that they could have won without a prematurely raised offside flag by the linesman.
The Saints will be another tough test for the Villans despite their recent defeat away at Wolves with a number of young summer signings beginning to shine.
Villa will have to rely on City slayer Leon Bailey to come up with the goods again and the Jamaican should really be a nailed-on starter for most, if not all, games going forward.
In the draw against the reigning champions, his vision for how the game is going to play out was on show in full effect as he darted in front of Joao Cancelo when Jacob Ramsey pulled the ball across the penalty area.
As the ball reached him, though, he did not panic or snatch at the chance like many attackers might when they get a rare chance to find the net against Pep Guardiola’s juggernaut.
The 25-year-old was cool, calm and composed to side-foot a lethal strike right into the top corner giving Ederson no chance to stop them from being pegged back level.
That wasn’t a one-game wonder though as he showed his ingenuity away at Crystal Palace even though Aston Villa ultimately lost the game 3-1.
Bailey’s clever flick-on with his head was the last thing the Eagles’ defence expected and it allowed Ollie Watkins to charge in behind and find the net early on.
After a difficult first year in the Premier League, Bailey is finally starting to come as good as people expected of him now he is settled into his sophomore season.
In other Aston Villa news, one of the Saints’ breakout stars of the season has been ruled out of Friday night’s clash at Villa Park.