‘Marco Asensio must not start’ for Aston Villa in crunch Bournemouth showdown
Unai Emery can’t continue to persist with Marco Asensio as Aston Villa prepare for a trip to Bournemouth on Saturday.
The Villans are set for an away clash at the Vitality Stadium on 10 May in what will prove to be a huge day in the race for a top-five finish.
The B6 outfit needs to maintain a winning run if they have any hope of securing a place in the Champions League for next season.
That won’t be easy against a high-flying Cherries side who have been superb this season, with a change likely to be needed for Asensio on the south coast.
Asensio risk not worth it for Aston Villa v Bournemouth
There was so much excitement when the 29-year-old completed a loan move from PSG to the Midlands in the winter window.
This started in excellent fashion with seven goals in his opening eight appearances in claret and blue as he formed a superb partnership with Marcus Rashford.
It is fair to say this level of output has fallen off a cliff in B6, with two penalty misses against Southampton potentially being a catalyst for this.
| Date | Opponent | Minutes | Goal involvements |
| 03/05/25 | Fulham | 60 | 0 |
| 26/04/25 | Crystal Palace | 69 | 0 |
| 22/04/25 | Man City | 14 | 0 |
| 19/04/25 | Newcastle | 72 | 0 |
| 15/04/25 | PSG | 24 | 0 |
Despite this, Asensio has started the last two clashes against Fulham and Crystal Palace, being largely anonymous in both.
The win against the Cottagers was much needed, but the Spaniard did very little in his 60-minute showing to prove why he should start again.
This saw the loanee take just 21 touches of the ball while failing to complete a dribble or a long ball, maintaining a zero per cent success rate for the latter [FotMob].
Asensio was also dispossessed on one occasion while making just one pass into the final third, which is far from good enough.
It isn’t as if the attacking midfielder helped out defensively in any way as he failed to complete a single defensive action, as he also lost two duels.
Asensio could benefit from bench role v Bournemouth
There is no doubt that the number ten was far from good enough against Fulham and could be better from the bench at the Vitality.
This could see Donyell Malen finally be given another chance to showcase his talent from the start for Villa after five games as a substitute.
The pace of the Netherlands international could cause problems for the Bournemouth backline before the introduction of Asensio off the bench.
Villa are in need of something different, and this could be the perfect point of difference for Emery and Co. in the final weeks of the season.