Unai Emery may be handed international break boost at Aston Villa after Tyrone Mings update
The international break may still be in full flow, but Aston Villa are set to return to Premier League action in just a few days.
Unai Emery's side get their Premier League campaign back up and running as winless Everton make the trip to Villa Park on Saturday (14 September) for the fourth match of the season.
Although the Villa boss isn't expected to make many changes to the side that beat Leicester City before the break, the Spaniard has been handed a new boost this week after a Tyrone Mings update emerged.
Is Tyrone Mings still out injured?
The Villans posted a video on X on Monday (9 September) which showed the England international returning to first-team training as he continues his recovery having not played a competitive fixture for more than a year.
Mings' last outing in claret and blue came on the opening day of last season as he was substituted midway through the first half as Emery's side were beaten 5-1 at St James' Park.
Although the 31-year-old was withdrawn after 31 minutes of action, he demonstrated how commanding a presence he can be in defence as he won 100 per cent of his aerial battles, according to Fotmob.
The Villa man's height gives Emery's side a greater presence in the backline and over the course of the 2022/23 season, Mings managed to win an average of 71.8 per cent of his aerial duels, according to Fbref.
That record placed the former Bournemouth man in the top 12 per cent of his positional peers in the division over the course of the campaign.
Perhaps even more impressively, the 31-year-old only lost an average of 0.69 aerial battles every 90 minutes which places him in the top three per cent of the division's centre-backs.
Although Pau Torres has stepped in to replace Mings excellently over the last 12 months, the Spanish centre-back is nowhere near as dominant when the ball is played in the air.
Last season, he only won 51.1 per cent of his aerial duels, 21.7 per cent less than Mings managed the season before and he also lost 0.8 aerials every 90 minutes, 0.11 more than his English counterpart.
Mings' height also helped the Villans create multiple chances from set pieces as well.
In his last full season, he sat in the top 20 per cent of defenders for assists per match and the 77th percentile for expected assists per game so he will add an extra dimension to the attack.
In possession, Mings should be able to slot straight back into Emery's system given his impressive range of passing. In that clash with Newcastle, he found a teammate with 100 per cent of his passes including one long-range effort.
Few defenders in the Premier League are as comfortable carrying the ball out of defence as well. In the 2022/23 season, the Aston Villa man managed to sit in the 73rd percentile for progressive carrying distance.
There were occasional question marks over just how good Mings was defensively, especially as he sat in the 48th percentile of his peers for errors made per 90 minutes, but Villa's business this summer will ensure that is less of an issue.
With Amadou Onana, John McGinn and Youri Tielemans ahead of him, not only will Villa keep much more of the ball now, but there are more players in place to stop opposition attacks from getting close to Mings.
When do Aston Villa next play at Villa Park?
There is no need for Emery to rush Mings back given the good form of both Torres and Ezri Konsa, but it will be a welcome boost to the Spaniard that the defender is closing in on a return.
While it would be a major shock to see him back in the matchday squad to face Everton on Saturday, hopefully, it won't be too long before he's back doing what he does best in claret and blue.
In other Aston Villa news, Jean-Philippe Mateta's stance on a move to Villa Park has emerged after Crystal Palace contract developments
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