Aston Villa: Unai Emery has to start Leon Bailey v Bournemouth
Unai Emery must bring Leon Bailey back into his Aston Villa starting line-up against Bournemouth on 21 April.
Of the team that started in the Europa Conference League quarter-final second leg against Lille – which Villa won in dramatic fashion on penalties after a 3-3 aggregate draw – Emery looks set to be forced into two changes.
Douglas Luiz is serving the second game of his two-match Premier League ban for accumulating 10 yellow cards within the first 32 matches of the league campaign while attacking midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo was forced off after just 28 minutes in France and may not be fit to start.
With those two players out, Emery could make a bold move and do what he has only done twice so far this season, start all four of Bailey, Morgan Rogers, Moussa Diaby and Ollie Watkins.
Bailey, in particular, offered plenty of threat off the bench against Lille, registering a 100 per cent shooting accuracy as he hit the target with both of his efforts [FotMob].
Fearsome front four could fire Aston Villa to win v Bournemouth
It is remarkable that, as Villa approach their 16th game of the season across all competitions since Rogers’ January arrival, the four have only featured from the start together on two occasions.
It becomes even more surprising when considering the results of those games, a 4-0 victory over Ajax and a 2-0 win over Wolves – with Bailey generating an expected goal total of 0.94 and scoring in the former [FotMob].
Despite the gung-ho look of that quartet on paper, Villa do not appear to have suffered defensively for fielding what is arguably all of their most talented attackers at once.
Diaby got a goal and an assist against Wolves, as well as scoring against Ajax, alongside Bailey and Watkins, before the latter’s premature departure.
In total, that quartet have scored a combined 48 goals across all competitions – although, admittedly, Watkins’ tally of 26 accounts for more than half that figure, with Bailey next on the list with 13 [Transfermarkt].
Turning to his most dangerous forwards, with Youri Tielemans partnering John McGinn ahead of the usual back four and goalkeeper, could be Emery’s best route to success against Bournemouth.
Bailey simply has to start.
In other Aston Villa news, Watkins must shut Troy Deeney up again.
For more Aston Villa news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.