Dan Carter

Fri 1 December 2023 17:10, UK

Aston Villa have ensured that they will be playing European football in 2024 after they secured their place in the Europa Conference League knockout stages with a 2-1 win over Legia Warsaw.

Goals from Moussa Diaby and Alex Moreno gave Unai Emery’s side all three points at Villa Park on Thursday (30 December) to continue their excellent start to the season which has seen them impress in Europe and climb into the Champions League places in the Premier League.

Deservedly so, Emery has earned plenty of praise for masterminding this excellent start to the campaign, but former Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling has been most impressed by how the Spaniard has improved players such as Ezri Konsa since arriving at Villa Park.

Speaking on talkSPORT (1 December, 9:12) he said: “The great thing I think about Emery is that he’s improved players, I always look at managers who improve players and I look at the players he’s improved at Villa, Ollie Watkins and Konsa, basically the whole team.

“He doesn’t chop and change as much as De Zerbi, he likes to stick with the same core and every week I think the wheels are going to fall off, but that hasn’t happened.”

Konsa started and played the full 90 minutes of Aston Villa’s win on Thursday night and was once again exceptional at the heart of the defence, especially in possession where the 26-year-old completed 98 per cent of his 80 attempted passes [Fotmob].

Four of those efforts were into the final third, while the Englishman also managed to complete three of his five attempted long passes as he managed to consistently move Emery’s side up the field throughout the game.

While much of the praise given to Konsa in Europe this season has surrounded his ability on the ball, the defender was excellent out of possession on Thursday, winning six of his eight duels, including five on the ground, more than any other player on either side.

It was by no means an easy contest for the 26-year-old either as he was tasked with thwarting an incredibly physical Legia side, but the Villa man used his body excellently to win his side four free-kicks without committing a single foul himself.

The improvements under the management of Emery are clear to see as Stelling suggested. In the 2021/22 campaign, Konsa fell in the 12th percentile of Premier League defenders for passes attempted per 90 minutes, with an average of only 36.81 a game [Fbref].

Now the Aston Villa man is managing to complete upwards of 80 passes a match in the Europa Conference League and is averaging more than 60 passes a game in the Premier League. His completion rate now sits at an average of 92.5 per cent, previously it was at a worryingly low 86.4 per cent.

Off the ball this season, Konsa is averaging 1.46 tackles a game, only losing an average of 0.15 challenges every 90 minutes. In the 2021/22 season, he averaged 0.91 tackles a match, while still losing a similar 0.11 of the duels he entered.

It is clear that Stelling is right to have praised Emery for developing Konsa’s game and the Aston Villa manager has truly made him one of the Premier League’s best defenders.

In other Aston Villa news, Danny Murphy has heaped praise on Ollie Watkins labelling him “one of the best”