The £200m midfield driving Aston Villa’s bid to shock Arsenal and co
Aston Villa’s midfield, which they acquired for £17.7 million, is the invaluable key to their impressive Premier League start.
Aston Villa is currently enjoying its best-ever Premier League campaign at this point, sitting third in the table after a week to savour.
They haven’t scored 35 points or more after 16 games since 1980–81; the three times they’ve done so were more than a century ago.
There are similarities to Newcastle’s campaign, but Villa is presently leading Eddie Howe’s team in terms of points. Following 1-0 victories over Manchester City and Arsenal, talk of a title contender has replaced the previous talk of a top-four drive.
To be fair, Villa are making every effort to ignore the external buzz. The winner versus Arsenal, John McGinn, declared, “I’m banning the T-word.” With with 16 games left, there is still a long way to go.
“We hold those who have held these positions for a long time in high regard.” They have a great deal of experience.
Since we’re novices, can we continue? I’m not sure. We’ll see. Hopefully, the goals have been changed.
We need to work on strengthening our away performance, which isn’t terrible but can be better.
McGinn is just one member of a nearly flawless team under Unai Emery that has progressed since the Spaniard was appointed in 13 months ago after Steven Gerrard was fired.
This season, McGinn has started every Premier League game. If not for a one-match suspension, Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara would have also.
And Villa’s improbable attempt to upend the established order is being led by this trio in the midfield. The impressive consistency—McGinn has a 32-game league starting streak and Luiz is now on a 47-game streak—has provided Emery’s squad with a reliable, strong base at the centre of the field.
Luiz keeps things moving. Although he has already scored five goals this season, one less than his best league total from the previous year, he is leading the way defensively at Villa with 36 tackles to Kamara’s 32.
He is only second only to Pau Torres (1,066) for passes (955).
Additionally, both players have the poise on the ball that Emery needs for his team to play their way out of difficulty.
Meanwhile, McGinn’s performance versus Arsenal can only be partially described by numbers.
There was only one goal, the game-winning goal, the joint-highest number of tackles (five), the most successful dribbles (three), and the most duels won (seven).
He was all over the place, thrilling the crowd not just with his goal in the seventh minute but also with the little things that count, like an opponent rushing the field after an unusual throw-in or a bulldozing tackle to thwart the following wave of assault.
The sight of “Meatball” McGinn pushing you at full speed while Luiz and Kamara are behind him gives him the right to do so, therefore it’s not for the weak of heart.
“The defence greatly simplifies our task. Choosing whether to press is crucial, and positioning plays a big part in our play. Thank goodness, it has enabled me to flourish,” McGinn remarked to Sky Sports later.
And how much is this trio worth to you? In 2018, McGinn and Luiz signed for an estimated £2.7 million from Hibernian, while in 2022, Kamara came for free after Gerrard went to the player’s house to persuade him to join. Kamara’s signing is considered to be the club’s greatest contribution.
Only £17.7m in total, but considering that Arsenal is rumoured to be interested in Luiz, a £200 million price tag for the three does not seem too high.
And how much is this trio worth to you? In 2018, McGinn reportedly paid £2.7 million to join Hibernian, while Luiz signed for £15 million from Manchester City the following year. In 2022, Kamara, in what will go down as Gerrard’s biggest contribution to the team, signed for free.
Only £17.7m in total, but considering that Arsenal is rumoured to be interested in Luiz, a £200 million price tag for the three does not seem too high.
And despite Newcastle and Spurs’ injury woes, Villa supporters should take heart from their depth in this area. Youri Tielemans is playing a more advanced role right now, but he can drop back, and Emery’s ability to bring on Leander Dendoncker and Jacob Ramsey off the bench against Arsenal shows that this team is in excellent form and is surging ahead.
Emery stated, “We are there because we deserve it,” and like mst of his choices this season, he’s not wrong.
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