Unai Emery makes Jhon Duran blunder as Aston Villa starting XI v Celtic confirmed
Unai Emery may live to regret not starting Jhon Duran for Aston Villa in their Champions League clash against Celtic on Wednesday as one change has been made to his starting XI.
The Villans confirmed their line-up via their official X account (29 January) which showed that Emery’s only change to the team from last time out against West Ham United is that Lamare Bogarde has been brought in.
Tyrone Mings is the man who has made way for the Dutchman as Emery looks to add yet another win to the Villans’ Champions League tally.
While there has been plenty of speculation about the future of Colombia international Duran, it feels like the game against the Bhoys would have been a good chance for him to prove his worth and allow Ollie Watkins a rest.
Unai Emery could regret Jhon Duran decision for Aston Villa v Celtic
Duran has been interchanged with Watkins since the start of the season with the two often outperforming one another when brought on.
As per Sofascore, in the 24 minutes that the Colombia international played against West Ham last time out, he was once again brought on to be an impact substitute.
During his time on the pitch, he had 13 touches of the ball and had two shots at the Hammers’ goal.
One of which was blocked while the other was just off target this resulted in the striker generating an xG of 0.09 which is far from where it needs to be, but his speed could have had a real impact on the game against Brendan Rodgers’ men.
Of the seven passes he attempted, 100 per cent of them were accurate which shows how essential he could have been in the Villans’ build-up play.
In terms of dribbles that he completed, zero per cent of those that he attempted were completed successfully with the 21-year-old losing possession of the ball three times.
Defensively he wasn’t up to much either with zero per cent of the aerial and ground duels he attempted being completed successfully.
The Champions League clash against Celtic is a big game for Villa so here’s hoping Emery knows what he’s doing by not starting Duran once again.
In other Aston Villa news, Arsenal have made a bid for one of Unai Emery’s star men.
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