Unai Emery to make Nicolo Zaniolo decision v Legia Warsaw as Injury Expert shares Aston Villa fitness update
Unai Emery could be set to make an unexpected Aston Villa call on Nicolo Zaniolo for Thursday’s clash against Legia Warsaw in the Europa Conference League after a new injury update.
The Villans sit second in Group E after four games, level on points with Warsaw at the top of the table, with a win or a draw in Thursday’s match ensuring Emery’s side’s place in the Europa Conference League knockout stages.
With the top of the top-of-the-table clash potentially set to define Aston Villa’s European campaign this season, Emery is likely to field a strong side at Villa Park but could hand struggling Zaniolo a start with the Italian expected to return for Thursday’s game.
The Italian international was nowhere to be seen in their 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday (26 November) after picking up a knock on international duty.
According to Injury Expert Ben Dinnery, taking to Twitter on Thursday (30 November), Zaniolo is expected to return to the matchday squad against the Polish giants with his status at 50%.
It has been an underwhelming season for the former Roma star after arriving on loan from Galatasaray during the summer window.
The Italian’s below-par form at Aston Villa led to Unai Emery dropping him to the bench in their Premier League clash with Fulham, where he remained an unused substitute.
In his nine Premier League games so far this season, he’s yet to register a single goal or an assist, has recorded just 0.7 key passes per game, registered zero big chances created and his shots on target per game are pretty woeful with just 0.4 [SofaScore].
Across his last two starts in an Aston Villa shirt, Zaniolo competed in 20 duels, and won just four of them, with a 0% success rate in aerial duels against Luton summing it all up. [Sofascore]
In both of those games, Zaniolo was dragged off after just 45 minutes as he made a combined 13 passes, losing possession 20 times as he failed to make an impact on Emery’s team.
On international duty, however, the Italian appeared to step up his game. In the crucial 0-0 draw with Ukraine to secure Italy’s Euro 2024 qualification, he completed 100% of his long passes, won five of nine duels, attempted three dribbles and drew three fouls. [Sofascore]
Zaniolo will have been hoping to return to Villa Park in great confidence after helping the Italian cause but did not feature at all against Tottenham.
It remains to be seen whether he will start the game against Legia after this latest fitness update but with Emery facing some crucial games ahead in the Premier League too, he may be tempted to rest a number of his stars for Thursday’s clash and that includes handing Zaniolo his first start in under a month.
In other Aston Villa news, a pundit has shared that one Villa star is struggling to bed in.