Unai Emery preferred strong Aston Villa starting XI v Crystal Palace over ‘hungry’ academy stars
Ty Bracey believes young players didn’t start for Aston Villa against Crystal Palace as Unai Emery looked to field a stronger starting XI.
The Premier League season came to an end for the Villans with a disappointing 5-0 thrashing away at Selhurst Park.
Emery opted to hand starts to fringe players like Clement Lenglet, Calum Chambers and Jhon Duran while omitting any academy prospects from starting.
Villa podcaster Bracey, who has featured on For The Love of Paul McGrath, has suggested that there had been importance placed on using a strong side for every game this season.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bracey said: “Every game has been pretty important for us up until Palace so it was important that we had our best 11 out there.
“Whilst I understand there are young players who are hungry for minutes, sometimes they probably deserve 10 minutes. It’s one of those things that up until Palace we really needed to have a solid squad out.
“If there are players that aren’t in the plans, I understand why those players haven’t got minutes against Palace.”
Should Omari Kellyman have started for Aston Villa v Crystal Palace?
The 18-year-old is one of the brightest talents coming through the Villa academy right now which has now seen him make two Premier League appearances.
Ever since his signing from Derby County in 2022, he has risen through the ranks and regularly featured for the Under 21s side.
Some Villa fans had suggested Kellyman was deserving of a start against Crystal Palace given that nothing was riding on the result.
He did get a 22-minute cameo against the Eagles but with the score already at 4-0, he had little hope of making an impact.
Kellyman managed just six touches of the ball but in that time kept a 100 per cent accuracy across his three passes [FotMob]. He also won 100 per cent of his ground duels which is no mean feat for an 18-year-old.
He did get his chance with a good amount of minutes and it has been made clear Emery wants to field a strong team whoever he plays against.
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