Aston Villa: Unai Emery must make correct call over Morgan Rogers v Nottingham Forest
Aston Villa blew away Nottingham Forest in a dominant first half at Villa Park in Saturday’s (24 February) Premier League clash.
The Villans took a 3-1 lead into the interval thanks to a goal from Ollie Watkins and a couple from Douglas Luiz, before Moussa Niakhate pulled one back late on.
With that goal, Watkins now has 14 Premier League goal involvements for the season – now back level with Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah for the most in the division.
No player put a foot wrong in the opening 45 minutes as Villa put on a show for supporters after successive home losses heading into the game.
Aston Villa cruising against Nottingham Forest
Indeed, given the margin of the lead, Unai Emery may well be tempted to make a change or two at the interval to preserve his key players.
Morgan Rogers has been afforded just nine minutes of action since arriving in a fairly sizable deal from Middlesbrough – relatively speaking – in the January transfer window.
In that cameo appearance against Sheffield United, he completed 100 per cent of his dribbles and won 100 per cent of his ground duels [Sofascore].
Whether it is a case of coming on for Jacob Ramsey – who assisted the first of Luiz’s goals and played a joint-high two key passes in the first half [WhoScored] – or even Youri Tielemans, this seems a great opportunity to get him on the field.
Morgan Rogers struggling for minutes at Aston Villa
Tielemans went under the radar somewhat in the first 45 minutes, with four others around him either assisting or scoring, yet his figures were still impressive.
The Belgian completed all 11 of his passes and was successful with his only dribble attempt.
This is not about punishing a player by taking them off, however, but rather allowing Rogers to build some confidence against a poor Forest side.
It would also mean Ramsey, Tielemans or whomever it may be can be given an unexpected breather in the second half.
Rogers showed what he is capable of in the first half of the season at Middlesbrough when scoring or assisting 0.14 goals per 90 minutes [FBref].
Villa had seven shots in the first half against Forest, scoring from three of them, so clearly this is a game for Emery’s men to get at the opposition.
Rogers needs chances to show what he is all about, and this seems like the perfect chance for him to do so.
In other Aston Villa news, a pundit believes the Villans have been given a boost in their hopes of playing Champions League football.
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