Tammy AbrahamImago

Aston Villa player ratings vs Coventry City: 4/10 midfielder flops, Abraham at the double in 9/10 display

Head of Editorial Standards & Recruitment AUTHORITY Former senior digital journalist at Stats Perform; network specialist in live data, editorial standards, and journalist recruitment. FOCUS Editorial standards, Statscore live data integration, newsroom operations, and recruitment. THE BRIEF Pete brings deep data expertise from his time at Stats Perform to oversee the network’s use of Statscore’s live data, setting the standard for how writers use it to produce original editorial content. He is also responsible for maintaining editorial standards and leading recruitment across the network.

Published on:

16 Sep 2026, 8:53 pm

Aston Villa punched their ticket to round four of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

Unai Emery's side ran out 3-1 victors over fellow Premier League outfit Coventry City at Coventry Building Society Arena.

Tammy Abraham rolled Villa ahead after a wonderful assist from academy product George Hemmings.

Victor Torp's stunning free-kick brought Frank Lampard's side level in the 27th minute.

But Ross Barkley's free header from a corner taken by Ibrahim Mbaye on his first Villa start put them back ahead, and Abraham's second saw Villa progress to the next round.

Here, Villa News rates the players after their success against Coventry.

Abraham, Hemmings and Mbaye impress

Coventry certainly had their moments, and Villa did not have everything their own way.

But there was a fluidity in attack that has been missing for much of the season, with Hemmings and Mbaye crucial to that.

Hemmings finished with an assist, a key pass, 87 per cent pass accuracy and three successful dribbles from four attempted.

Mbaye swung in the corner for Barkley to head in the second, and enjoyed a lively debut, causing trouble down the right for Villa.

As well as his assist, the summer signing from PSG had three key passes, 93 per cent pass accuracy, five progressive carries, and progressive carrying distance of 93.5 metres.

Abraham was afforded an opportunity to start in place of Nicolas Jackson, and he scored two really good centre-forward goals.

His first was rolled into the bottom-right corner after Hemmings' outstanding ball, and his second was excellent movement in the area at another Villa corner.

He only had three shots in the whole game, but two of those ended up in the back of the next.

Ibrahim Mbaye's Aston Villa contract examined: Wages, duration and amortisation

Bogarde does little to enhance his case

Barkley got a goal, and was pretty accomplished after a couple of cagey early moments.

But it was a tough outing for Lamare Bogarde, who struggled any time he was put under pressure.

His underlying numbers were not too bad, he had 93 per cent pass accuracy, which went up to 94 in the opposition half.

However, there were several heavy touches in the first half, and a couple of poor clearances that put his side in trouble on a couple of occasions, while he lost possession on seven occasions.

With Amadou Onana and Leon Goretzka injured, and Joao Gomes suspended, there was an opportunity to impress for Bogarde.

But he didn't do enough to stake a claim here, and often Villa found themselves on the backfoot because of his struggles to protect the ball in midfield.