Aston Villa confirmed XI v Nottingham Forest: Unai Emery may regret Moussa Diaby call
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has named his starting line-up for Saturday’s (24 February) Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest.
The Villans returned to winning ways last weekend with a 2-1 win away at Fulham and are back in front of the Villa Park faithful against Forest.
Emery named an unchanged side from that victory a week ago, as confirmed by the club’s official Twitter account [24 February].
Unai Emery names same Aston Villa XI
That is not massively surprising given Emery does not like making mass changes, especially on the back of wins, but he may regret one decision.
Moussa Diaby has been pushing for a recall to the side and his 84-per-cent pass accuracy – rising to 90 per cent in his own half [Sofascore] – would have come in handy against Forest.
Diaby is not just a player who is able to keep the ball ticking over, he also has four goals and four assists for the Villans this season in the Premier League alone.
Only Douglas Luiz (11), Leon Bailey (13) and star man Ollie Watkins (23) have more direct goal involvements that Diaby’s eight this term [FBref].
Diaby also thrives in terms of progressive carries, with his figure of 3.84 per 90 minutes this season bettered only by Bailey (5.08) – who recently signed a new contract – among Villa regulars.
What that effectively means is he carries the ball towards the opposition box more than anyone else in the squad other than Bailey.
Aston Villa have poor Villa Park record in 2024
Diaby starting would have meant leaving a player out, which could have been bad news for John McGinn.
However, after a fairly underwhelming afternoon last time out against Fulham by his own standards, in which he registered 49 touches [WhoScored], that may have made sense.
As it is, the same XI that started against Fulham is now being trusted against Forest as Villa seek a first home win in 2024.
Indeed, Emery’s men have lost all three competitive home matches in 2024. They were only beaten four times in their 27 Villa Park outings in 2023.
They are aiming to avoid three successive home league defeats for the first time since October to November 2020 under Dean Smith.
In other Aston Villa news, Don Goodman has raised a “problem” that Emery may have to resolve at Villa Park.
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