Tyrone Mings confirms his status as first-choice defender at Aston Villa with strong showing v Everton
Tyrone Mings capped off the signing of his new long-term contract at Aston Villa with a colossal performance in the 2-0 win over Everton at the weekend.
After conceding 11 goals in their last three matches, Unai Emery got the defensive display he was after as his side recorded their sixth clean sheet of the season on Saturday (25 February) – albeit against a rudderless Everton attack.
And Mings was the beating heart of Villa’s defensive resurgence, as he proved to the Spanish manager that his faith was well placed when offering him a contract that would keep him in the West Midlands until the end of the 2025/26 season.
Throughout the match, the 30-year-old won all ten of his duels, including eight aerial challenges, as well as making six clearances and seven ball recoveries. One of these was a match-defining intervention, as he was on hand to scramble the ball off the line in the 54th minute when the score was still at 0-0 and the clash firmly in the balance. [WhoScored]
His 8.03 rating by WhoScored was the centre-back’s best performance of the season and highlighted why he should be the leader of Villa’s defence going forward, no matter the competition.
Granted, Mings does have a mistake in him at times, but he more than makes up for them with the shift he puts in over the course of games. The stats don’t lie when it comes to the centre-back. Since his arrival in the West Midlands in 2019, Aston Villa have only won two games when he has been missing through injury.
His absence was felt in the 3-1 defeat to Manchester City, in which Pep Guardiola’s side had 17 shots on Villa’s goal and carved open chance after chance against the Mings-less defence.
With Diego Carlos recovering well from his ruptured Achilles tendon and even spotted in first-team training last week, one of Mings and Ezri Konsa could well face the axe from the starting line-up in the near future. However, if the England international’s performance against the Toffees was anything to go by, there is only one viable option for Emery to make.
It is often said that you don’t know what you have until you lose it. This couldn’t be more the case when looking at the relationship between the Aston Villa fanbase and Mings.
In other Aston Villa news, this academy player could be the next star in waiting at Bodymoor Heath after back-to-back goals for the Under-23s.