Morgan Rogers rises above parapet in man-of-the-match performance in Aston Villa v Arsenal
Aston Villa forward Morgan Rogers was the Villans’ best player by a distance in a 2-0 Premier League loss to Arsenal on Saturday (24 August).
Starting up front alongside Ollie Watkins at Villa Park, the 22-year-old forward was unable to get on the scoresheet despite Unai Emery’s side playing on the front foot for much of the game.
Watkins missed two golden opportunities either side of half-time which could have put a completely different spin on the game, and while Rogers didn’t come as close, his general play was exceptional.
With new England interim head coach Lee Carsley watching in the stands ahead of naming his maiden squad this week, Rogers has done his chances for a first senior call-up no harm despite the defeat.
Morgan Rogers outshines Ollie Watkins in attack for Aston Villa
While Watkins was replaced by last week’s winning goalscorer Jhon Duran midway through the second half against Arsenal, Rogers stayed on for the full 90 minutes, achieving a 7.3 SofaScore rating.
Racking up 0.14 expected goals and 0.07 expected assists, Rogers’ dribbling and constant darting runs into the Arsenal box will undoubtedly have caught the eye of both Emery and Carsley in the stands.
Completing four of his six attempted dribbles – two of which came from breakaway runs up the pitch and preceded shots which were blocked by Arsenal, Rogers also pulled off two key passes for team-mates.
One of these teed up the close-range effort which Watkins really should have buried in the early stages, with the youngster also completing two of his three attempted long passes.
Knocking Rogers off the ball proved to be Arsenal’s most difficult task of the afternoon, with the Villans forward winning seven of his nine grounds duels (77 per cent) and winning one free-kick in the process.
Rogers wasn’t afraid to help out defensively either and put in two tackles himself, something which Carsley will also value as he looks to select an England team built in his image.
The 22-year-old has already made a bright start to life at Villa Park, with three goals and managing a 27 per cent shot-conversion rate last season, and if his first two games of the new campaign are anything to go by, expect Rogers to help Villa climb to even greater heights.
In other Aston Villa news, Dan Bardell has predicted what will happen as clubs up the chase for Brentford striker Ivan Toney.
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