Unai Emery gets it spot on as 0% Nicolo Zaniolo axed v AZ, confirmed Aston Villa team news emerges
Unai Emery has got it spot on as Nicolo Zaniolo has been axed from the Aston Villa starting lineup for the game against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday (9 November).
Villa confirmed via their official X account that the Spanish boss has made four changes from the side that lost 2-0 against Nottingham Forest on Sunday (5 November).
The Italian international, who was substituted at half-time at the City Ground, hasn’t had the best start to life with the Villans since joining the club on a season-long loan deal from Galatasaray over the summer, meaning he misses out against the Dutch side.
Emiliano Martinez will start in goal, with Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos, Clement Lenglet and Lucas Digne making up the defence at Villa Park.
Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn will be joined in midfield by Youri Tielemans, while Leon Bailey, Moussa Diaby and Ollie Watkins will occupy the forward positions.
It was the right move for Emery to take Zaniolo out of the firing line after his performance once again fell below par in the defeat to Forest, with him taking up a place on the bench against AZ.
The attacking midfielder has failed to score a single goal or register an assist in his opening 13 games for the club since joining on loan.
Villa actually performed much better in the return fixture against AZ on 2 November, where the Italian came off the bench in the 4-1 victory before being reinstated to the starting lineup at the weekend.
In his 45 minutes on the pitch in Nottingham, he had just 23 touches of the ball, recorded a pass accuracy of 78 per cent from the nine passes he played and lost possession 12 times [SofaScore].
The attacker had one shot on target, but he failed to find a teammate with the one cross he played into the box as he looked to provide creativity from the left-hand side.
His admission will hand Jamaican international Bailey another chance to impress after he has looked lively off the bench and largely been clinical in front of goal this season.
The 26-year-old has scored six goals and laid on four assists in 15 appearances at the start of this campaign and he’ll be looking to send a message to Emery about why he should be starting on a more regular basis.
In other Aston Villa news, a journalist has detailed what he has heard about Emery’s contract situation.