The plan Unai Emery has installed to key in on Aaron Wan-Bissaka weakness - it's working

Aaron Wan-Bissaka is making his big push to cement an Aston Villa starting role for himself.

The 28-year-old joined on a season-long loan deal from relegated West Ham this summer.

Villa do have a conditional obligation to purchase the right-back, however the exact criteria in order to meet this isn't known.

What has become clear recently is Unai Emery's willingness to hand him the opportunity to carve out a big role in his side.

The DR Congo international started all four of Villa's final games prior to the international break, with Matty Cash relegated to the bench.

He's not without his faults though, and Emery is now trying to take action regarding them.

What area of Aaron Wan-Bissaka's game is Unai Emery working on?

Wan-Bissaka has always been a defender who has divided opinion amongst those who've seen him play.

Some view him as a consistently underrated Premier League full-back during his career, whilst others see him as a more average one.

Writing for The Athletic on Friday, Jacob Tanswell has pieced together an Aston Villa squad ladder piece.

It ranks each Villa player based on form, performances, influence, consistency and contribution made, and Wan-Bissaka ranks 16th.

A fascinating nugget of information is revealed in Wan-Bissaka's segment too, detailing Emery's training ground plan for the West Ham loanee.

"Wan-Bissaka was clearly low on fitness when he first arrived, gassing out in matches and looking ragged with and without the ball," he wrote.

"At 28, Wan-Bissaka will never be the smoothest in possession and Emery is working with him in training to teach him better starting positions defensively, rather than just making his excellent lunging tackles."

When you delve into Wan-Bissaka's underlying numbers this season, it shows just how clever Emery is to pick up on this and address it.

Where Wan-Bissaka ranks amongst Premier League rivals defensively

Wan-Bissaka's trademark defensive weapon has always been his tackling ability, which has long been heralded by players who've come up against him.

However, Emery honing in on his defensive positioning highlights both the Spaniards man-management and coaching nous even further.

Per FotMob, Wan-Bissaka ranked in the bottom 11.9 percentile of all Premier League right-backs last season for his 3.58 duels won per game.

This season, on the other hand, he ranks in the leading 12.3 per cent with 7.11 duels won per 90 minutes.

Wan-Bissaka averaged just 1.43 tackles per game last term but is now winning 5.33 this season, ranking him in the top 3.5 per cent.

He's also putting up 2.96 interceptions per game in 2026-27, which is a marked improvement on his 1.73 from 2025-26.

Yes, Wan-Bissaka is playing in a better side this term, but in theory he should've had more defending to do last season for West Ham than with Villa.

So to be putting up considerably better numbers so far this season with the Villains is a testament to Emery spotting this weakness, and tackling it head-on.