Aston Villa ace Youri Tielemans must prove himself to Unai Emery in Belgium v Sweden
Belgium face a European Championship qualifying clash against Sweden on 16 October, and Youri Tielemans will need to put in a statement performance if he wants to impress his Aston Villa boss.
The midfielder has fallen out of favour under Unai Emery despite only arriving in the summer transfer window and will be looking to work his way back into the starting team.
Recent news concerning Nicolo Zaniolo may provide the space in the team for Tielemans to step back in, but he will have to earn his place after some disappointing performances recently.
Even in the current international break, the midfielder has struggled to impress. He came off the bench in the 64th minute for Belgium in their 3-2 victory against Austria and saw his opponents score two goals to get back in the game, having been 3-0 down when he came on.
While the display was not entirely his fault, as Belgium went down to ten men, he touched the ball just 18 times in his 26 minutes of play, completed just seven passes and lost possession three times as he struggled to help his side keep the ball. [Sofascore]
However, he did turn in some impressive numbers in that display, with two tackles and three interceptions proving his work rate and defensive know-how, something he hasn’t necessarily shown at Villa Park, he also won the majority of his duels in a promising sign.
He will be looking to replicate his impressive defensive numbers tonight while hoping to add more comforting possession-based stats to his game in an effort to impress Emery and earn his keep in the Aston Villa team.
His performances at Villa Park have been disappointing, but an impressive display in the Europa Conference League against Zrinjski, where he impressed with a dominant display where he recorded four key passes, had two shots on target and touched the ball 123 times, showed there is a way back in. [Sofascore]
If he can combine the impressive possession play he showed in that game, with the hard-working structured defensive performance against Austria, he may well find his way back into Emery’s plans.
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