Leander Dendoncker to be Austin MacPhee secret weapon – Three things learned in Aston Villa win v Fulham
Aston Villa stretched their unbeaten run in the Premier League to ten games with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Fulham at Villa Park on Tuesday night (25 April).
Tyrone Mings was the match-winner for Unai Emery’s side with a nicely flicked header from a John McGinn corner on the 20-minute mark.
Although Fulham grew into the game as the second half progressed and even had a goal chalked out for offside, Villa held onto the three points that saw them leapfrog Spurs into 5th place in the Premier League with just five games of their season remaining.
Below are three things that we learned from Aston Villa’s fifth straight win and fifth straight clean sheet at Villa Park.
McGinn growing into armband
John McGinn certainly experienced a lean patch of form during the tenure of Steven Gerrard, but since being deployed in a more advanced position under Emery, he has been a man transformed.
Despite still struggling to add the goals that his performances deserve, the Scotland international was once again a menace in the midfield and was a problem for Fulham all night long.
In possession of the ball, McGinn was superb, completing 89% of his passes, making an impressive three key passes and delivering two successful dribbles out of three attempts. [Sofascore]
What was possibly even more impressive was his industrious work off the ball, in which he won nine out of his 14 ground duels and made one tackle and two clearances.
Villa Park fortress
Since the bitterly disappointing 4-2 defeat to Arsenal back in mid-February, Aston Villa have been inch-perfect when playing at Villa Park.
By collecting all three points with a clean sheet, Emery’s side stretched their crazy recent run to five straight wins without conceding at home while scoring ten goals themselves.
Before Gerrard’s sacking in the West Midlands, Aston Villa had recorded just two home clean sheets against Southampton and a ten-man Leeds United.
Although Emery will take the plaudits for this remarkable turnaround, the likes of Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa must be credited for their inch-perfect play over the last couple of months.
Aston Villa have created one of the meanest defences in the league, and Villa Park is becoming a fortress once again.
Dendoncker can be MacPhee’s new set-piece weapon
Although Aston Villa would have been extremely worried when Boubacar Kamara was taken off against Chelsea at half-time earlier this month, his replacement, Leander Dendoncker, has proven himself a more than adequate replacement.
The Belgian international adds a certain physicality and height that Villa lack across the pitch – barring Mings and Konsa – and he helped match the strength of Joao Palhinha on Tuesday night.
As well as recording an impressive 33 successful passes out of 38 attempted, Dendoncker managed to win 100% of his aerial duels (3/3) – two of which were from set pieces – as well as 50% of his ground duels (2/4). [Sofascore]
Villa’s set-piece coach Austin MacPhee will be excited about using the 28-year-old’s height and strength in both boxes – and it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see the midfielder follow in Mings’ footsteps soon and get his name on the scoresheet in the coming weeks.
In other Aston Villa news, Christian Purslow is keeping his promise to the squad after a player arrived at Bodymoor Heath ahead of a potential transfer.