View: Eyes on bigger prize for Aston Villa U21s stars despite heavy defeat v Peterborough in Premier League Cup
Aston Villa Under-21s look all but out of the Premier League Cup after they suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Peterborough on Tuesday.
Tony Carss was forced to name an almost unrecognisable side for the Group D showdown, although senior right-back Frederic Guilbert was handed a run-out.
As a result of the changes, Villa lost 4-1 and are now rooted to the bottom of their Premier League Cup group with just one point from four games.
Declan Frith scored a late penalty for the Young Lions but that was as good as it got for Carss’ side, which was much-changed due to the number of youngsters currently in Dubai with Unai Emery and the first team.
As per a report by the Birmingham Mail on 6 December, Filip Marshall, Oliwier Zych, Josh Feeney, Lamare Bogarde, Dominic Revan, Arjan Raikhy, Tommi O’Reilly, Kadan Young and Cameron Archer are all with Emery’s senior side in the Middle East.
There’s a good chance most of those young talents would have played against Peterborough’s Under-21s on Tuesday and if that had been the case, there’s no denying the result could have been a lot different.
Villa fans are fully aware of the ability that 20-year-old striker Archer, for example, has while midfielders like Raikhy, 20, and O’Reilly, 18, have been ever-present for the Under-21s this term.
And with the youngsters impressing at that level, a senior call-up was well deserved.
It has, however, clearly left Carss short-handed back here in England with his makeshift Under-21s side losing heavily against a Peterborough side the Young Lions should really be beating.
But it’s a small price to pay for what could be a huge opportunity for the likes of Feeney, Bogarde, Raikhy, O’Reilly, Young and Archer.
Aston Villa will play against Chelsea on Sunday (11 December), giving the youngsters the opportunity to play against top Premier League players in Abu Dhabi.
Yes, it’s just a friendly. But that experience will still be invaluable to some of the young lads at Emery’s disposal.
In other Aston Villa Academy news, a new inner-city academy shows the vision of a growing club.