Jhon Duran should get rare start in Aston Villa v Chelsea after 100% Everton cameo, but must improve in one area
Aston Villa kept their Premier League title hopes alive with a point against Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday (14 January).
But despite the point, manager Unai Emery will be disappointed not to have left Merseyside with all three given the respective positions of both clubs in the table.
He will, of course, be happy that his defenders kept a clean sheet, but annoyed that his attackers did little to trouble the Everton defence.
One major reason behind that could be fatigue, with striker Ollie Watkins having played 1,849 minutes in the league this season [official Premier League website]. That figure places the talented attacker ninth in the overall list, which should force Emery into resting his main man.
Fortunately, a break from Premier League action is arriving, with Aston Villa meeting Chelsea in FA Cup action next time out.
The match should allow Emery to swap out Watkins for his deputy Jhon Duran when the two clubs go head-to-head in the fourth round at Stamford Bridge later this month.
Duran has been handed 23 appearances by Emery in all competitions this season, the latest of which came from the bench against Everton.
And during his 26 minutes on the pitch, the youngster registered a 100% pass success rate, as well as having a shot on target [Sofascore].
The 20-year-old did, however, have three shots off target, a joint-match high alongside Watkins, which is an area that Duran must improve if he is to get more minutes for Aston Villa.
With four Villa goals to his name, he clearly knows how to find the back of the net, but he must do it more often, or at least work the goalkeeper more often, in order to provide a suitable rival for Watkins.
Chelsea’s 31 goals conceded in the league this season place them in the bottom half of the table in that category [official Premier League website], with their shaky defence certainly able to be taken advantage of.
In other Aston Villa news, one 96% Villa Park ace is set for increased responsibility after recent comments from Emery.