BBC pundit names Aston Villa ace Lucas Digne in Premier League team of the week
Aston Villa defender Lucas Digne has been named in the BBC Premier League team of the week by Garth Crooks after his goal against Manchester United.
The French defender returned to the starting line up after missing a long period with an ankle injury, and fired in a beautiful free-kick to help them on their way to a 3-1 win in Unai Emery’s first game as manager.
He was also outstanding defensively to keep Marcus Rashford quiet for the most part of the game, and that was enough for Crooks to name him as one of his stand-out defenders from the weekend.
“It had to be some free-kick from Frenchman Digne to beat David de Gea from 25 yards,” he said.
“On the face of it Manchester United should never have lost this game at Villa Park when you compare the players of both teams but Villa were by far the better side on the day.
“However the arrival of Unai Emery as the new manager clearly boosted Aston Villa’s performance but the question is for how long. They seem to get these spikes every time a new manager arrives on the scene but then they fizzle out.
“Digne is a good player and the type that just might appeal to Emery. I’ll be very interested to see where Villa finish the season under Emery – who stays and who goes.”
Boost
There is no doubting that having Digne available to him for his opening game as boss would have been a huge boost for Emery, but it helped that he hit the ground running too.
Digne has always been an excellent option, for both Everton and Villa, with his ability to get up and down the pitch as well as his set-piece delivery vital for every team he is part of.
But his defensive ability to go one on one with any attacker and usually hold his own at the very least will be huge for Emery, who likes his teams to get forward quickly in transition and defend well.
Digne will now be hopeful of being part of the France squad for the World Cup after returning to fitness, but his main goal for now will be keeping Aston Villa in the Premier League and away from a relegation battle.
In other Aston Villa news, trio ruled out of Carabao Cup clash vs Manchester United