Why Unai Emery must trust £13m man after Aston Villa double blow v Sheffield Utd
Leander Dendoncker ought to start for Aston Villa against Sheffield United if Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans are out of the running.
Up until the last few weeks, Aston Villa had not experienced any injuries or suspensions during this campaign. It appears that the Villains are now facing some difficulties.
Last time out, after a fierce 2-1 victory over Brentford, Unai Emery’s team emerged victorious. Even though they were behind 1-0 heading into halftime, goals from Ollie Watkins and Alex Moreno sealed the victory.
Going into that game, selection dilemmas were aplenty as both doughglas Luiz and Lucas Digne were suspended. This was added to by the absence of Youri Tielemans due to injury. Then during the game, Boubacar Kamara was sent off and is now going to miss three games at the end of the year.
Now it has been confirmed that Pau Torres is injured. This means Emery is without at least three first-team stars for the visit of Sheffield United.
The main weakness is in the middle because there isn’t enough depth there. Having said that, Leander Dendoncker merits the opportunity to replace Kamara this week.
Some of his stats really stick out when examining his Fbref profile, demonstrating the potential he has to offer Emery and his Villa team. In just seven starts, he has gone from 87.3% pass accuracy to 19 tackles, demonstrating his versatility as a base midfield player.
He has John McGinn and Luiz surrounding him, who provide movement to the midfield that Dendoncker occasionally lacks. Fans don’t respect him because of his overall lack of playing time and strong performances.
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Emery’s confidence in his ability to complete tasks had evidently improved as he entered the pivotal victory over Arsenal. With 23 minutes remaining, Dendoncker entered the game and made one tackle and three clearances, according to FotMob. He had contributed to the game’s final score of 1-0 and kept a clean sheet.
While there is no doubt that Sheffield United is not as dangerous as the Gunners, his ability to maintain play will be useful.
Villa needs a midfield sitter to take Kamara’s place and let the other midfielders carry the ball forward. Dendoncker isn’t the finest player, but he’s always performed well and deserves to start.
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