Aston Villa: Matty Cash is one of Premier League’s best, Michael Brown dubs him ‘Underrated’
Considering Unai Emery has led Aston Villa to fourth in the Premier League, the Midlands club seem to have flown under the radar over the last few weeks.
In the opening couple of months of the campaign, the Villans were pushing to be top of the Premier League table and could have been first on Christmas Day for the first time since the 1998/99 season.
Since then, Emery’s men have slipped to fourth in the table, but up against Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal, that is still an incredible feat with 12 games of the campaign still to play.
Matty Cash continues to shine for Aston Villa
In all competitions, Matty Cash has made 35 appearances, boasting four goals and two assists as Villa fight for a top-four spot in the league and aim for European glory in the Europa Conference League.
The Poland international has been an integral part of Emery’s squad this season, playing an important role in the team’s build-up play and even scoring a match-winning goal against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup.
Having maintained an 85 per cent passing accuracy, as per FotMob, so far in the Premier League, as well as creating 11 chances, Cash has emerged as one of the best right-backs in the division, but it seems his performances are not being noticed as much as they should be.
Former Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield United midfielder Michael Brown seems to agree with this notion, naming the 26-year-old in his ‘Underrated XI of the Premier League season so far’. [BBC Sport]
Speaking to BBC Sport on Thursday (29 February), he said: “If you look at Aston Villa and the way they play, Matty Cash is one of the ones who sets that off – and around the whole football club too.
“He is at a brilliant age at 26 and what I like about him is that when things aren’t going so well in the game, he has the physical side and will go and drive the team on.
“He gets up and down the pitch and always contributes. I feel like his game has got better and better being in a better team. He’s versatile and underrated – a real professional.”
Is Michael Brown correct about Cash at Villa Park?
The stats do not disagree with Brown either. Cash is amongst the top 98 percentile of full-backs in the Premier League for non-penalty goals, as well as the top 73 percentile for pass accuracy. [FBref]
Although being deployed at right-back, he is integral to Villa’s attacking play, breaking into the top 71 percentile of progressive carries and 77 percentile of touches in the attacking penalty area.
Coming up against the likes of Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier, Pedro Porro from Tottenham Hotspur and Kyle Walker from Manchester City, there is plenty of competition but Cash is holding his own in the division.
Cash is not just important in attack. Within the top 82 per cent of tackles for Premier League full-backs this season, he is certainly not afraid to get stuck into the opposition and help launch a counterattack, which is always made easier with the pace of Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey. [FBref]
Underrated. No doubt about it.
In other Aston Villa news, a first-team player has been called ‘Terrible’ by a BBC pundit after what he did recently.
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