Unai Emery gets it wrong as Nicolo Zaniolo starts – Aston Villa confirmed XI v Nottingham Forest
Unai Emery has got it wrong after naming Nicolo Zaniolo in the starting lineup for the Aston Villa game against Nottingham Forest on Sunday (5 November).
Villa confirmed via their official X account that the Spanish boss has stuck with the same team that beat Luton Town 3-1 at Villa Park on 29 October.
The Italian international has been largely hit-and-miss for Villa since he joined the club on a season-long loan deal from Galatasaray over the summer, but that hasn’t prevented Emery from naming the 24-year-old attacker in his starting lineup once again for the trip to the City Ground.
That means Emiliano Martinez will start in goal, with Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Lucas Dige lining up in defence.
Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Luiz will operate in deeper midfield roles behind captain John McGinn, while Zaniolo will be joined in the attacking positions by Moussa Diaby and Ollie Watkins.
It isn’t too much of a surprise that Emery has once again stuck by Zaniolo as he has started in the past two Premier League victories over West Ham and Luton.
But the attacking midfielder was replaced at half-time by Leon Bailey against the Hatters, suggesting that the Jamaican international could be in line to start ahead of the Italian against Forest.
He is yet to register a single goal or assist since joining Villa, whereas the 26-year-old Bailey has scored six goals and laid on four assists in 14 appearances.
Zaniolo was booked in the opening 45 minutes against Luton, where he recorded just 28 touches and failed to complete either of his two attempted dribbles [SofaScore].
He also lost possession on eight occasions for his side and won just three of the 11 duels he was involved in before being hooked at half-time.
This just felt like the right time for Emery to take the attacking midfielder out of the firing line and hand Bailey the start he deserves on the back of his impressive performances this season.
In other Aston Villa news, a senior man may have quit before he was pushed out of Villa Park by Monchi.