Liam Rosenior clearly sugarcoating in ‘difficult’ assessment of Aston Villa stats, here’s why
Liam Rosenior is of the impression that Aston Villa pose a real threat to his Chelsea side’s defence heading into the Premier League clash on Wednesday.
Unai Emery will be looking for a response at Villa Park to keep the Villans’ hopes of achieving a top-four spot at the end of the season, with his side just three points ahead of fifth-placed Liverpool.
Last time out in the league, Villa were beaten 2-0 by their Midlands rivals Wolves in a performance and scoreline that was perhaps the most embarrassing of the campaign so far.
Chelsea have their own ambitions, but Rosenior may be trying to twist the narrative heading into the match.
- Read more: How Aston Villa can secure victory vs Chelsea – Unai Emery given perfect blueprint by Mikel Arteta
Liam Rosenior gives props to Aston Villa attack, stats prove the real story
Speaking ahead of the midweek clash, Rosenior has attempted to make it sound like Villa have a real threat going forward to cover his own back, in case Chelsea don’t get what they want.
Rosenior said, as quoted by John Townley on X: “They’re very clinical in the xG [Expected goals] that they create and the values of the goals they score. They’re a good team. It’ll be tough – they’re going to have a reaction from their last result. We have to make sure we’re prepared for a very difficult game.”
But when looking at the actual stats, the Chelsea boss doesn’t have too much to worry about.
- Villa have scored just four goals in their last six games
- They have scored three times in their last four games at Villa Park
In Aston Villa’s last six games in all competitions, Emery has seen his side score four goals with a combined xG of 6.97, which means the Villans are currently underperforming their xG by almost three goals.
Not only that, but in the same time period, Villa have managed to score just one time from open play, with many of their forwards out of form.
While it may be true that Villa’s xG tally of 34.5 is being slightly overperformed with 38 goals scored all season, Rosenior is making the task of a win seem even more “difficult” for his own reputation.
Where is it going wrong for Aston Villa in attack right now?
As always, there is a heavy reliance on Morgan Rogers to pull the strings for Emery, and when the attacking midfielder isn’t on his game, the Villans struggle.
Rogers has two goals in his last 10 games, but has still created plenty of chances for teammates who can’t seem to find the back of the net.
| Player | Games (Premier League) | xG | Goals |
| Tammy Abraham | 5 | 0.99 | 1 |
| Ollie Watkins | 27 | 9.55 | 8 |
Tammy Abraham’s B6 homecoming gave many Villa fans hope that he could boost their side in the final third, and though not entirely his fault, that’s not been the case so far.
Overall, chance creation has been what Villa have lacked this campaign, and combine that with forwards who are low on confidence, you get a recipe for disaster and doom.
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