Aston Villa v West Ham: Unai Emery makes major blunder
Unai Emery has made a blunder that could prove to be costly as Aston Villa play host to West Ham on Sunday.
The Spaniard has named his playing eleven at Villa Park on Sunday, 26 January.
However, starting Leon Bailey is a decision that could cost him dearly and force him to make an early change.
Leon Bailey has been extremely erratic this season for Aston Villa
The winger has just completed 71.5 per cent of his passes this season – putting him in the 22nd percentile of players in his role. [Fbref]
Off the ball too, he has not offered much, averaging just 0.64 tackles per 90 minutes which is worse than 93 per cent of attacking midfielders or wingers in Europe.
Also, in 18 league games, Bailey has just managed to score one goal and provide two assists.
In the Champions League, despite playing five games, he has neither scored nor assisted.
Aston Villa have to pick up the three points against West Ham
While a win for Villa won’t take them higher up in the table, it would get them within two points of the top four.
Given how this season has panned out, there could be six to seven teams battling for the top four come the end of the campaign.
Emery knows that the bare minimum will be to qualify for Europe but if Champions League football is there for the taking, then he would want to achieve that.
He’s done a good job thus far to ensure that standards are still high even though they have been in Europe this term.
In other Aston Villa news, an update has emerged on Ezri Konsa after a development over the past few weeks.
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