View: Unai Emery must take Aston Villa goalscoring burden off Danny Ings
Danny Ings is enjoying another purple patch for Aston Villa with the 30-year-old currently the club’s top goalscorer with six goals to his name.
Hitting the back of the net has been an issue for the Villans in the 2022/23 season, and Unai Emery will be looking to rectify the problem when their Premier League campaign gets back underway against Liverpool.
It promises to be a tough test against the Merseysiders, but the Spaniard will be heading into the fixture confident that he can conjure another positive result.
This season, Ings has yet again had to shoulder much of the Villans’ hopes when it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net. It’s important to have a prolific goalscorer, but goals also need to come from other areas of the team. Arsenal are currently top of the Premier League and have six players who are separated by just two goals, whereas Ings has double the amount of the nearest Villa player.
When looking at the underlying statistics, it’s easy to see why Ings is Villa’s main goal threat. According to Wyscout, the 30-year-old averages more shots per 90 minutes (2.5) than any other Villa player, furthermore, 54 per cent of his shots end up on target, which is the fifth highest in the Premier League.
Interestingly, Ollie Watkins ranks above Ings when it comes to the percentage of his shots which end up on target. The 26-year-old manages to test the goalkeeper over 55 per cent of the time. Sadly for Villa, they aren’t giving the former Brentford striker the opportunity to utilise his fairly accurate shooting ability.
Watkins is averaging less than two shots a game at the moment, which is probably a clue as to why Villa are reliant on Ings to hit the back of the net. Wakins currently sits on three goals so far and potentially looking to utilise him in a more central position could be an option.
In the 3-1 win over Manchester United, the striker failed to get into the box anywhere near enough, with just two touches in the opposition area.
His heat map shows that he drifted out wide far too often, with Watkins potentially being used as a beneficiary to Villa’s other attacking players.
In the home fixture against Leeds United, Watkins played a much higher and far more central role, which resulted in the striker managing six shots and 12 touches in the opposition box. A change of position could be considered, but it’s up to Emery to assess the impact it could have on the rest of the team.
Leon Bailey is another player, much like Watkins who is potentially not getting into good goalscoring positions enough. The Jamaican is averaging fewer shots per game than Ings and the former Brentford man. Three Premier League goals is not a bad return from the 25-year-old, but he will need to have a more prolific end to the campaign if Villa wish to push for a top-half finish.
When looking at the midfield, Jacob Ramsey is the obvious candidate to provide the Villans with more of a goal threat. He likes to get forward and under Emery, he has already shown his worth in a more advanced position.
It’s hard to make firm observations on how Aston Villa will play with the Spaniard now at the helm, but utilising Ramsey in more of an attacking sense is surely something which will be at the top of his agenda.
In other Aston Villa news, Unai Emery can exploit glaring Liverpool defensive weakness on Boxing Day.