Aston Villa boss Unai Emery set to snub Youri Tielemans v Fulham despite Boubacar Kamara blow
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery will opt to push John McGinn back into a more defensive position against Fulham rather than start Youri Tielemans, according to Alan Hutton.
Villa confirmed on Monday (12 February) that Boubacar Kamara’s season had been brought to a premature end after the French midfielder suffered a knee ligament injury during the defeat to Manchester United at Villa Park on Sunday (11 February).
The 24-year-old has been a regular fixture alongside Douglas Luiz at the base of Emery’s midfield in the Premier League this season, but the Spaniard is going to have to shuffle his pack to try and cope without the Frenchman until the end of the campaign.
While Tielemans is an obvious like-for-like replacement, Hutton expects Emery to switch McGinn’s role in the side to create space for one of Moussa Diaby or Nicolo Zaniolo to slot into the starting XI in a more advanced role at Craven Cottage.
“Personally, I think John McGinn will move in,” Hutton told Villa News.
“Obviously Diaby was on the bench against Manchester United, Zaniolo is still there and there are options there for him.
“That’s the obvious one, but I think you lose a lot of what he gives you going forward in his aggression, his energy to close down and win the ball back because that is what Villa like to do.
“So Tielemans is another one that could easily slip into that situation. He’s very comfortable on the ball, he can take it from the goalkeeper and he’s cool under pressure.
“It could be an opportunity for him to come in and really show everyone what he is truly capable of from that deeper-lying role.”
Will Unai Emery trust Youri Tielemans to start for Aston Villa?
Tielemans has had a strange start to life at Villa Park. Having arrived from Leicester City in the summer, the Belgian international barely featured for Villa in the opening stages of the season before becoming a more regular fixture in Emery’s side.
Most would think that he would be the ideal replacement for Kamara in the heart of the midfield, but it seems unclear whether or not Emery will trust the midfielder in that deeper role given his displays so far this season.
The Villa boss has some huge decisions to make at Craven Cottage on Saturday (17 February) and supporters could be set to learn a lot about who he trusts when team news drops ahead of kick-off.
In other Aston Villa news, Hutton has admitted a situation involving Luiz would have left him “absolutely raging” against Manchester United
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