Aston Villa’s excellent start to life in the Champions League continued in midweek as they secured a 2-0 win over Bologna. The result means they currently top the table alongside Liverpool after three matches.
Unai Emery now has a fantastic chance to ensure Villa secure progression to the last 16 after this impressive start, but with games coming thick and fast, squad rotation will be crucial.
Indeed, the Midlands side takes on AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, just five days after their European exploits. This could see the Spaniard make a few changes to his squad, namely with Jhon Duran dropping back to the bench.
Why Jhon Duran may be dropped to the bench
The promising striker has been in sensational form this term, scoring seven goals in 12 appearances, starting just two of those games.
Against Bologna, he found the back of the net, took five total shots, succeeded with 100% of his dribbles and made one key pass in what was a solid all-round display from the youngster.
Goals
1
Assists
0
Total shots
5
Key passes
1
Total duels (won)
12 (5)
Possession lost
11
Ollie Watkins will likely come back into the starting XI against the Cherries, however, enabling Emery to unleash Duran at some stage in the second half if things aren’t going Villa’s way.
He won’t be the only player who could drop to the bench this weekend, as Amadou Onana wasn’t exactly at the races against the Serie A side in midweek.
Amadou Onana’s game in numbers vs Bologna
Having lost Douglas Luiz during the summer, Emery made the move to secure Onana’s signature as a replacement and the Belgian has shone during the embryonic stages of his spell in the Midlands.
The 23-year-old has already scored three goals in 11 appearances for Villa, yet he appeared strangely subdued against Bologna.
The midfielder did complete 96% of his passes during his time on the pitch, but he only managed 28 touches along with making just two tackles and zero interceptions in the first half.
It looked as though he was struggling physically and Emery took him off at half-time, with the Spaniard later revealing that while the summer signing “had some pain”, the decision was also a “tactical” one.
Onana was given a match rating of 5/10 for his lacklustre performance by GOAL following the match, which could perhaps give an indication that Emery might drop him to the bench ahead of the weekend’s clash against Bournemouth.
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Lauded as a “powerhouse” by former striker Darren Bent once the transfer window closed, Onana could be replaced by either Ross Barkley or Boubacar Kamara.
Barkley was the man to come on for the Belgian against the Italian side, going on to record a 96% pass success rate along with winning 100% of his duels and losing possession just twice.
Kamara made his first appearance since suffering an ACL injury in February, which ruled him out of the rest of the 2023/24 campaign.
It may come too soon for him to be unleashed in the starting XI, but his time should come sooner rather than later, no doubt about that.
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