Martin Keown makes strong Ross Barkley claim after what happened in Aston Villa 1-1 Bournemouth
Martin Keown believes Ross Barkley is playing “the best football of his career” for Aston Villa after impressing in the 1-1 draw against Bournemouth.
Evanilson quashed the celebrations at Villa Park with a 96-minute equaliser on Saturday [26 October] after Barkley thought he won the match for the hosts with his 76-minute opener.
Keown was quick to jump on the bandwagon live on BBC Sport Final Score [26 October, 4:21pm], claiming Barkley is playing better than ever in an Aston Villa shirt.
He said: “Ross Barkley has come on at half-time. We know he has fantastic ability and he is playing some of the best football of his career.
“The ball is falling as he hits it and he is on it in a flash. They needed an element of luck to beat Mark Travers today and the pace of the ball takes it into the back of the net.”
Ross Barkley is reviving his career at Aston Villa
The 30-year-old has been forced to bide his time at Aston Villa since his summer move from Luton Town, but Unai Emery can no longer overlook the midfielder after another sensational display against Bournemouth.
Barkley is making a habit of replacing Amadou Onana for the Villans after the Belgian dropped another howler of a display, as his inconsistent form in a Villa shirt continues.
His replacement, on the other hand, proved to Emery which of the two should be the regular starter for Aston Villa as his goal against Bournemouth came so close to securing the three points.
On paper, Barkley wasn’t overly impressive on the day, losing both his ground duels, losing possession six times, completing a respectable 82 per cent of his passes, and offering little in the attacking sense barring his one shot on target which led to the goal [Sofascore].
However, he can decide matches and should propel beyond Onana in the Villa Park pecking order considering he has only clocked 90 minutes on one occasion in the 0-0 draw against Manchester United.
Indeed, nine of his 11 appearances in all competitions this season have been off the bench. Throughout that time, he ranks in the top 98 percentile for successful take-ons with 2.09 per match and the 75 percentile for clearances and aerial duels won, with 1.76 and 1.31 per match respectively [FBref].
Aston Villa are flying high this year. They are top of Champions League league phase with Liverpool and are third in the Premier League, five points behind current leaders Manchester City.
In the face of seemingly inferior opposition such as Bournemouth, Villa can be frustrated just as they were on Saturday (26 October) and players like Barkley can be the difference-maker.
Crystal Palace are next up in the Carabao Cup at Villa Park. Emery should pull the trigger and start Barkley over Onana for the tie and if the experiment fails then no harm done; if he performs again, the boss could have found his secret weapon.
In other Aston Villa news, here’s how the Villa players rated against Bournemouth.
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