Emi Buendia shine is wearing off for Aston Villa after Wolves – here’s why
Aston Villa’s 2-0 defeat to Wolves on Friday night is going to take some time for Villa fans to get over.
Unai Emery‘s side were unable to lay a glove on the Premier League’s bottom side at Molineux, as Rob Edwards’ team gave Wanderers fans a West Midlands derby win to remember.
As for Aston Villa, it’s now one win in their last six in all competitions, and what that defeat means for their Champions League hopes remains to be seen.
It was a night that saw the vast majority of Villa players underperform, as they must now lick their wounds ahead of a crucial top four six-pointer against Chelsea on Wednesday evening at Villa Park.
Emi Buendia put in extremely poor performance vs Wolves
There were numerous contenders for the worst-performing Aston Villa player against Wolves award on Friday, and one of the nominees was certainly Emi Buendia.
Having returned to Villa Park last summer following a fairly unproductive loan spell with German side Bayer Leverkusen, many predicted the 29-year-old would be heading for the exit door in this season’s summer window.
But, Villa’s decision-makers opted to give him another shot in B6, and he has somewhat taken it this season, with seven goals and five assists in 37 total appearances so far.
However, the Argentine international has been struggling to replicate his early-season form in recent weeks, with just one Premier League goal contribution from his last 13 outings.
As per Sofascore, Buendia registered an expected assists (xA) of 0.03 against Wolves, made zero key passes and made just one progressive carry with the football.
He also picked up a yellow card, made zero defensive contributions, didn’t make a single tackle attempt, made zero interceptions and won just three of his 12 ground duels.
In short, Buendia simply wasn’t in any phase of the game against Wanderers, and was perhaps lucky to even last 70 minutes into the match before being replaced for Tammy Abraham.
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Emery may have no option but to press on with Buendia
However, Buendia may well be able to retain his place in the starting XI post-Wolves due to the fact he’s not really got any rival teammates snapping at his heels.
Jadon Sancho has been underwhelming for Aston Villa this season, and was dragged off on the hour mark against Wanderers.
Meanwhile, Leon Bailey hasn’t impressed since his loan return from Roma this winter, and 19-year-old Alysson still looks a raw talent that may not be ready to handle a starting role in the Premier League yet.
As such, with the threat of falling out of the top four entirely now very real for Villa, Emery may not have a much better option than to keep picking Buendia, and hope that he plays himself back into form.
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