Unai Emery can ease struggling Matty Cash back into Aston Villa XI after double Manchester City blow
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery will certainly have mixed feelings about the club’s stalemate away to Bournemouth.
On the one hand, the point from the 2-2 draw on Sunday (3 December) keeps them in the top four, but it may also be viewed as two points dropped given Bournemouth’s struggles this season.
But there is no time to ponder the draw at the Vitality Stadium, with Manchester City travelling to Villa Park on Wednesday (6 December).
Emery will certainly need to rest some players amid this busy schedule, and he could be tempted into reinstating Matty Cash into the starting XI.
The right-back endured a simply torrid time against Tottenham last Sunday (26 November), completing just 69% of his passes and winning just two of his six duels (33%), as per Sofascore.
He was then hooked by Emery at half-time, with his first half yellow card playing a key role in that decision, with Cash lucky not to see red for a rash challenge on Rodrigo Bentancur.
The full-back was, however, handed 90 minutes against Legia Warsaw on Thursday (30 November), where he fared much better with a 92% pass success rate, one of which was key, while he also made two tackles and two clearances, as well as winning three of his five duels [Sofascore].
It was, however, only a 16-minute cameo for Cash against Bournemouth, with central defender Ezri Konsa getting the nod at right-back.
The latter impressed with a superb 15/15 duels won and five tackles made [Sofascore], but Emery may just want a natural right-back from the start against Manchester City, while he may also simply want to rest Konsa after that busy afternoon against the Cherries.
And it shouldn’t be quite the baptism of fire for Cash given the double blow for Pep Guardiola’s men, with left-winger Jeremy Doku potentially out of the clash with injury [Manchester Evening News, 4 December], and deputy Jack Grealish out due to suspension.
In other Aston Villa news, one Villa star enjoyed an 82% stunner in the recent meeting with Legia Warsaw, with Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie wowed by the “unusual suspect.”