Aston Villa: BBC Sport pundit blown away by ‘absolutely perfect’ Douglas Luiz v West Ham
Aston Villa missed the opportunity to stretch their lead over Tottenham Hotspur to five points as they could only manage a draw with West Ham United.
Unai Emery’s side fell behind in the first half at the London Stadium on Sunday (17 March) but Nicolo Zaniolo’s late strike rescued a point for the Villans to keep them in the Champions League places into the March international break.
While Villa were nowhere near their best, there were still a couple of displays that impressed supporters and pundits alike in East London, most notably that of Douglas Luiz who blew BBC Sport commentator Danny Gabbidon away.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra (17 March, 14:18) he said: “The way that Unai Emery has utilised Douglas Luiz this season has been absolutely perfect and it’s no surprise to see him linked with bigger clubs.”
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As he has done so often this season, Luiz offered an element of control to Villa’s midfield that is so important to their style of play. The Brazilian completed 90 per cent of his 81 attempted passes, 12 of which were into the final third, according to Fotmob.
On top of that, the 25-year-old completed 100 per cent of his attempted dribbles and found a teammate in claret and blue with 50 per cent of his long passes as he showed his ability to switch the play fairly consistently.
But it was out of possession where Luiz really showed his quality on Sunday as made up for John McGinn’s absence with a combative display that the Scottish international would have been proud of to break up play.
The Brazil international won more tackles than any other player for either side as he came away with possession of the ball in all three of his attempted battles. On top of that, Luiz made five recoveries and wasn’t dispossessed at all.
Luiz hasn’t been the best defender this season, attempting fewer tackles than 59 per cent of Premier League midfielders and having a lower success rate than 36 per cent of his positional peers, according to Fbref.
The Villa star places in the 43rd percentile for dribblers tackled per 90 minutes and the 41st percentile for tackles made in the defensive third of the pitch, which suggests he has a reluctance to get stuck in off of the ball.
But against West Ham on Sunday, he showed he is more than willing to get stuck in with that side of the game, especially with both Boubacar Kamara and McGinn unavailable through suspension and injury.
Will Unai Emery be able to keep Douglas Luiz at Villa Park?
As Gabbidon suggested, Luiz’s excellent form in claret and blue this term won’t have gone unnoticed by other teams in the Premier League and beyond. The next challenge for Emery is keeping him at Villa Park this summer.
Hopefully, the Villans will be able to beat away any interest in the 25-year-old at the end of the season, but so much could depend on their financial fair play situation and what sort of offers arrive for Luiz this summer.
In other Aston Villa news, Alan Hutton has revealed who he expects to take over the Villa captaincy from John McGinn
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