Alan Hutton will be surprised if Aston Villa change captain again under Unai Emery
We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park.
Alan Hutton doesn’t think Unai Emery will strip John McGinn of the Aston Villa captaincy after the 28-year-old was left out of the Villans’ last two starting XIs.
The Scot was controversially awarded the armband in by Steven Gerrard at the start of the campaign, with Tyrone Mings being stripped of his duties.
Hutton expects McGinn to be involved in Villa’s first game under the 50-year-old against Manchester United on Sunday.
“I don’t think he will come in and do that [change captain], especially after everything that happened with Tyrone Mings at the start of the season,” Hutton exclusively told Villa News.
“To come in now and change the captaincy again I don’t think looks particularly good. I don’t know the reasons why John didn’t play or why Jacob Ramsey was rested and the reasoning behind it after the Brentford game.
“It’s important to remember those decisions were made and they went out had an unbelievable performance and won 4-0, so every footballer in the world knows that in the next game the manager’s not going to change the team.
“Does he come back in for Manchester United? Probably, I would expect him to. It’s an interesting one to see his first lineup and how he will take the team forward. John will certainly be disappointed not to be more involved.”
All will become a lot clearer for Villa fans when the Spaniard names his first starting eleven against Manchester United this weekend.
A win for Villa could mean they avoid the bottom three when the Premier League ends for the month-long World Cup break.
In other Aston Villa news, the club are set to reject a request from this World Cup-bound nation to rest their players on the final gameweek before the break.