Aston Villa: Kris Boyd blown away by Leon Bailey v Fulham
Kris Boyd was blown away by what Leon Bailey did as Aston Villa secured a 2-1 victory against Fulham at Craven Cottage on 17 February.
In the first half, the Jamaica international cut in from the right wing on his left foot and took a fantastic shot on goal.
It ended up beating Bernd Leno but unfortunately, also the back of the net as it bounced back off the post, denying him a brilliant goal.
Speaking on Sky Sports (17 February, 3:30pm), Boyd said: “He unleashed an unbelievable strike.”
Bailey blew away the Aston Villa fans
According to Sofascore, he had a 100 per cent accuracy rate completing two out of two long ball attempts.
He achieved the same accuracy with his dribbles attempted as he terrorised the Fulham back line throughout the game.
Bailey had 34 touches all game – most of them coming in the final third and he played a big role in the Villans carrying such a heavy attacking threat.
In comparison to attacking midfielders and wingers in Europe’s top five leagues, the 26-year-old’s numbers stack up exceedingly well.
Per fbref, he’s in the top 85 percentile for progressive passes received with 10.35 per 90 minutes.
He’s also made 5.79 touches in the attacking penalty area – putting him in the top 83 percentile.
His 4.99 progressive carries also have him in the 84th percentile so he’s a multi-faceted attacker who’s only getting better with each passing game.
Ollie Watkins steals headlines for Villa
Watkins bagged both the goals and rightly deserves plaudits for it but Bailey played an important role in helping the team forward.
He had a pass accuracy of nearly 80 per cent and gave it his all in the 81 minutes he was on the field of play.
Emery made the right decision to start Bailey on the right and the Villans come back from London with three points in the bag.
In other Aston Villa news, the club may have suffered yet another injury blow as a first-team player could now be out longer than first feared.
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