Unai Emery has super sub on his hands at Aston Villa in table-topping ‘chief difference maker’ Leon Bailey
It is becoming increasingly clear that big and talented squads are a massive asset to managers, and that is certainly the case at Aston Villa.
Unai Emery has slowly but surely built a successful squad at Villa Park, with almost all of his players key to the success he has enjoyed there so far, both domestically and in Europe.
Leon Bailey is certainly on that list, with the attacker registering tallies of six goals and six assists this season. Those figures have come from 17 matches in all competitions, with Bailey clearly a key player for his manager.
There is, however, an argument to be made for the Jamaican to start from the bench and come on as a substitute in matches rather than being in the starting XI.
That is because Bailey boasts the most goal contributions from substitutes in the current campaign [official Premier League website, 19 November], with the winger scoring two goals and providing two assists across four separate matches.
That places him ahead of Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez, Arsenal’s Fabio Vieira, Wolves’s Pablo Sarabia and Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta, who all have three goal contributions as substitutes this season.
The efforts from Bailey, who Adrian Clarke has now described as this season’s “chief difference maker” [official Premier League website, 19 November], means his club are in the top five when it comes to most substitute goals this season (five), behind Arsenal (seven), Brighton (seven) and Wolves (six).
Given the superb start to life in the Midlands from Bailey’s fellow winger Moussa Diaby, who has three goals and three assists, Emery certainly has strong options.
And while the manager will want to chop and change his starting XI to keep players fresh, constantly using Bailey from the bench may just be the best decision.
In other Aston Villa news, Emery has a deadly duo on his hands at the Villa Park club as a double-figure link-up emerges.