Ezri Konsa emerges as Aston Villa hero v Wolves as Troy Deeney shares new England admission
Unai Emery will be absolutely buzzing after watching his Aston Villa side complete a late turnaround against Wolves on Saturday (21 September).
Having gone 1-0 down to a Matheus Cunha opener after 25 minutes, it looked as though Emery’s side were set for defeat at Villa Park, though Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and Jhon Duran had other ideas.
The goalscoring trio all hit the back of the net within the space of 21 minutes, leaving Gary O’Neil and his Wolves team shell-shocked and, now, at the bottom of the Premier League table.
While all three deserve plaudits for their impact on the result, Konsa was given special praise for his effort on goal which saw the Villans finally take the lead with just two minutes of normal time to play.
Writing via BBC Sport on Monday (23 September), Troy Deeney said: “I know Konsa played as a right-back to start with, but he moved as the game developed.
“He has become one of the best defenders England have got. He’s very consistent and can play anywhere across the backline. He came up with a pivotal goal for Aston Villa as well.”
Aston Villa ace Ezri Konsa now England’s best defender?
Konsa is certainly up there with the best, and the 26-year-old wasn’t even playing in his correct position, with Pau Torres and Diego Carlos pushing him out to the right-back spot to begin with.
He has adapted to the full-back role well, keeping a 97 per cent passing accuracy against Wolves, keeping 100 per cent of his shots on target and winning 100 per cent of his tackles [FotMob].
The defender also won 71 per cent of his ground duels (5/7), making five recoveries and completing 50 per cent of his attempted dribbles, meaning he was unlucky to miss out on the Man of the Match award.
With John Stones, Marc Guehi, Levi Colwill and Harry Maguire to be compared to from England’s last squad, there is certainly an argument to be made for Konsa as the national team’s best.
He ranks in the top 89 percentile for passing accuracy, the top 88 percentile for progressive carries, and the top 94 percentile for successful take-ons. He’s got everything in his locker [FBref].
And with an average of 1.03 progressive passes per 90 minutes [FBref], ranking him among the top nine per cent of defenders across Europe’s top five leagues, he has every right to stake a claim for an England starting spot.
In other Aston Villa news, Unai Emery has been handed a crushing blow as a “really bad” injury was mooted v Wolves.
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