Dan Carter

Wed 6 December 2023 12:10, UK

After an impressive start to their Premier League campaign, Aston Villa are set for their toughest test of the season so far when they welcome Manchester City to Villa Park.

Pep Guardiola’s side make the trip to the Midlands on Wednesday 6 December without a win in their last three matches and have suffered a huge blow as both Rodri and Jack Grealish will miss the meeting through suspension.

All three of City’s defeats this season have come when Rodri has been suspended so Emery will be looking to exploit the Spaniard’s absence and one man that could be key in that plan is Youri Tielemans, with his ability to dominate a midfield.

Ian Wright is one person to have sung the Belgian international’s praises this season, labelling his performance earlier in the campaign against Fulham as “magnificent” and a demonstration of just how much quality he has [Match of the Day 2, 12 November].

The Belgian international has been in incredible form over the last few weeks and may be able to dominate the Manchester City defence in the absence of Rodri. Against Bournemouth last time out he worked incredibly hard, entering 17 duels and coming away with possession an incredible nine times [Fotmob].

Perhaps even more impressive however was how consistent Tielemans was in the tackle, winning five of his six challenges in the match in an incredibly destructive performance at the heart of midfield.

On the ball, the 26-year-old attempted to move Emery’s side up the field, completing 46 of his 59 attempted passes, including seven into the final third. His range of passing over an extended distance was spectacular as he found a teammate with all but one of his long-range efforts.

With Rodri absent at the heart of Guardiola’s midfield, there could be gaps for the Aston Villa players to exploit when in possession and there are few better in Europe at picking a pass than Tielemans. The Belgian plays more progressive passes a game than 88 per cent of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues [Fbref].

Over the last year, he has averaged 7.63 passes per 90 minutes, despite only attempting an average of 60.77 a game. That means that more than one in 10 of the 26-year-old’s passes help Villa move towards the opposition’s goal.

Manchester City typically dominate possession, so Villa will have to operate on the counterattack when in possession. Having a player like Tielemans in the starting XI who will always look to pass forward rather than backwards will be beneficial to unlocking City’s defence.

Villa often look to play Ollie Watkins behind the opposition backline and as they look to do the same against City, Tielemans could almost play as a quarter-back spaying the ball behind the backline. He places in the 97th percentile of his positional peers for through balls attempted per 90.

If Aston Villa have any hope of beating the Premier League champions, they will need another magnificent display from their entire side, but it feels as though Tielemans can make a real difference on Wednesday night. Emery has to start him.

In other Aston Villa news, Dean Smith has been blown away by Ezri Konsa labelling the Villa star a “Rolls Royce” of a defender