Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran slammed in Sheffield United Premier League clash
Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran was extremely fortunate to not have been sent off against Sheffield United on Friday, December 22.
The Colombian came off the bench and nearly let Unai Emery down as there was every reason for him to be given his marching orders.
The 20-year-old clearly swung his arm and elbowed Jack Robinson – which missed the view of referee Anthony Taylor.
The VAR had a look at it for a couple of minutes and did not decide to send Taylor to the monitor but it was a naive way to act at a crucial juncture in the game.
Had he been sent off, the chances of Villa scoring an equaliser in stoppage time would have been reduced and seen the visitors running away with the three points.
Speaking on the Premier League World Feed, David Prutton, a Sky Sports pundit, said: “Very foolish of Jhon Duran. That by definition is violent conduct. It’s hard to make a case against that being a sending off.”
Even apart from this, it was a stinker from the 20-year-old and the fans at Villa Park certainly will not be pleased with his display.
According to Sofascore, he failed to complete even one of his attempted dribbles, with a 0 per cent accuracy.
He even lost all three of his attempted ground duels which was again with a 0 per cent accuracy and another shocking statistic for the Colombian.
In the 16 minutes he was on the pitch, he lost possession five times – which means that had he been on the pitch for 90 minutes, it would’ve been 30 times at that same rate.
Emery will have a word with him either on Friday or when the players come back for training but there certainly is the need to have that talk as this was absolutely unacceptable.
In other Aston Villa news, Ian Wright has waxed lyrical over a first-team player and has dubbed him “fantastic” after what he did recently.