Aston Villa secured a comfortable 6-0 win over Barrow in their second round Carabao Cup tie on Tuesday night, with Cameron Archer the hat-trick hero leading the way.
It was a professional performance from Dean Smith’s side from the start, with a good mix of experience and youth finding the right balance to avoid a potentially tricky tie.
READ MORE: Talking tactics: Ramsey inclusion, Young experience helps secure Villa win
Instead it was a relatively simple night for Villa, with Archer scoring a hat-trick while Anwar El Ghazi scored twice and Frederic Guilbert was on the mark too as we wrapped things up in style.
Unsurprisingly, Archer leads the way in our player ratings but there were a number of impressive and stand-out performances from Villa in this one.
Villa player ratings vs Barrow
Jed Steer, 7 – Relatively untroubled throughout the game, but was called into action early on in the second half and produced a fine save to deny Barrow a way back into the encounter.
Frederic Guilbert, 8 – An energetic display from the Frenchman at right-back, as he got up and down the right flank all night and capped it off with a brilliant finish to grab a goal too.
Axel Tuanzebe, 7 – Looked a little unsteady at times but that is to be expected given his lack of playing time and match fitness. Will undoubtedly have massively benefited from this run out.
Kortney Hause, 7 – Similar to his defensive partner at times as they struggled to deal with the physicality of Barrow’s frontline at times, but contributed to the clean sheet on a positive night.
Matt Targett, 7 – Having looked well below his best and lacking match fitness against Watford, it was great to see Targett come in and get vital minutes in his legs in this one. Didn’t do much wrong in a tidy performance.
Marvelous Nakamba, 6.5 – Sloppy with the ball at times and got caught out on occasion, and it perhaps showed his flaws in what was a physical game. Did well on occasion too though in an up and down display.
Conor Hourihane, 8 – Our captain for the night put in a strong shift with rumours still circulating about his future. Was instrumental in two of our goals with great distribution from midfield in a good overall performance.
Carney Chukwuemeka, 8 – Showed flashes of his class with some wonderful touches and driving from midfield into dangerous areas. Perhaps not quite as impactful and decisive as what we’ve seen from him in previous games, but a positive night on his first senior start.
Jaden Philogene-Bidace, 8.5 – Was lacking a goal as he did have a couple of good opportunities, but looked a real threat at times and was a creative spark with his assist for Archer’s third goal a brilliant bit of play and his best moment of the night which also included winning the penalty for our second.
Anwar El Ghazi, 9 – Excellent penalty as always and a nice finish to get his brace, El Ghazi put in a good shift as one of the more experienced players in the Villa side and was given some rest in the second half with the game all-but done. Two goals, two assists, brilliant night.
Cameron Archer, 9.5 – What a night for the youngster. Three really well-taken goals, the second the pick of the bunch given it was a delightful dink over the goalkeeper. Showed his talent and will have given Smith something to think about in terms of options and depth.
Substitutes:
Aaron Ramsey, 7 – Positive impact after coming on, looked dangerous going forward and got up to the tempo of the game quickly.
Caleb Chukwuemeka, 7 – Looked really sharp and added fresh impetus to our attack, will be pleased with his outing.
Hayden Lindley, N/A
