Aston Villa worry emerges as new Youri Tielemans claim made
Aston Villa are on a mission to revive a season which promised so much before their elimination from both the FA Cup and Champions League.
The Villans were denied a place in their first FA Cup final in a decade by Crystal Palace last weekend (26 April), after coming so close to mounting an all-time great comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in their European quarter-final.
Seventh-placed Villa are now under pressure to deliver a second successive Champions League qualification via the Premier League, and have four games remaining to catch two of Newcastle United, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea.
Ian Darke worries over Youri Tielemans after Wembley defeat
Aston Villa put in a tired performance against Palace at Wembley, with Oliver Glasner’s side affirming their strong recent record against Unai Emery to reach the final against Man City.
Youri Tielemans – whose own pedigree in the FA Cup saw him strike the final winner for Leicester City in 2021 – once again played the full game on Saturday.
TV commentator Ian Darke used the Belgian enforcer as an example of the “jaded” players in Emery’s squad as they progressed deep into a trio of competitions.
Tielemans admitted the Villa squad felt “horrible” after losing at Wembley, and has started every single match for club and country since his team lost to Palace again in the Carabao Cup back in October.
“The worrying thing for Villa at Wembley was it just felt like a game too far. There have been players, Youri Tielemans for example, who have just played so much football,” Darke exclusively told Villa News.
“They looked jaded and not at the level you’d expect. You have to hope that fatigue doesn’t affect them in the run-in. They need to focus fully on getting the points they need for the top five.
“I think it’s more fatigue than mentality, and it might be that they’ve got to at least win three of their last four games.”
Aston Villa have four to play to salvage Champions League
Aston Villa now have a clear tunnel-vision towards the final four Premier League fixtures of the campaign.
The Villans will hope Brentford can do them a favour against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Thursday night (1 May), after which every club will have a quartet of matches separating them from the end of the season.
| POS | Premier League table | PLD | PTS | GD |
| 2 | Arsenal | 34 | 67 | +34 |
| 3 | Newcastle | 34 | 62 | +21 |
| 4 | Man City | 34 | 61 | +23 |
| 5 | Nott’m Forest | 33 | 60 | +19 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 34 | 60 | +14 |
| 7 | ASTON VILLA | 34 | 57 | +5 |
Villa do not face any European rivals among their final four games, as they take on Fulham this Saturday at Villa Park (3 May), before a week later heading down to AFC Bournemouth.
The season ends with matches against the two biggest failure stories of the Premier League season, Tottenham Hotspur at home before Old Trafford against Manchester United.