Unai Emery wrong to drop Lucas Digne again as confirmed lineup for Aston Villa v Luton Town
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has named his starting line-up for Saturday’s (2 March) Premier League clash with Luton Town.
The Villans made it back-to-back wins last time out with a 4-2 victory at home to Nottingham Forest, but now face a difficult trip to Kenilworth Road against a team fighting for their lives at the bottom end of the table.
Emery made one change side from that victory a week ago with Ezri Konsa returning to the team ahead of Pau Torres, the club announced via their official Twitter account (2 March).
Lucas Digne harshly left out again
They do usually say don’t fix what isn’t broken, and this Aston Villa side is playing well and picking up victories right now so it’s no surprise to see the boss stick with the team as much as he can.
Torres drops to the bench despite a decent showing against Forest, but it’s a huge boost to have the fit-again Konsa back in the side.
One man who will feel he is due a start however is Lucas Digne at left-back, after injury cost him his place in the team earlier in the campaign.
Alex Moreno has taken his place well and scored twice in his 11 appearances this season, but has failed to provide an assist so far while Digne has provided two assists but failed to score.
But in a game where Luton are likely to pack the defence and drop deep, it’s the quality on the ball of the former France international that could be key in this game and could be a regret for Emery.
According to Whoscored so far this season Digne has averaged 1.4 key passes per game compared to Moreno’s 0.8, while he also has a better pass completion rate (81.6% compared to 81.5%) from more passes attempted per game (33 to 24.1) and 1.4 crosses per game.
Unai Emery could regret this decision
Luton will be ready to throw everything at Villa, and with the high line Emery likes to play they will need to be able to transition quickly and keep the ball.
Digne feels like a better fit for this type of fixture, but Moreno has got the nod. Hopefully Emery isn’t left to regret that after the full-time whistle.
In other Aston Villa news, one pundit believes a decision has been made on Nicolo Zaniolo’s future already.
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