Aston Villa secured a 3-2 win over Burnley this weekend in what turned out to be both a thrilling and dramatic encounter at Villa Park.
Goals from Leon Bailey, Moussa Diaby and a late Douglas Luiz penalty ensured we picked up all three points, but the visitors twice drew level on what was seemingly set to be a frustrating afternoon.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Burnley: Key quartet decisive in dramatic win
However, Villa were able to find a way to secure the victory, and it subsequently moves us into second place in the Premier League table, with 42 points from our opening 20 games of the campaign.
With our next league outing not until January 14 as we’ve come through a hectic schedule in good shape, we’ll hopefully be able to build on an excellent first half of the season in 2024.
Bailey’s brilliant form continues
Having broken the deadlock, Bailey made it nine goals and eight assists in 26 appearances so far this season, as his fine form continues.
His decisive impact in the final third has been fundamental this year given others haven’t quite hit top form themselves yet, and he looks full of confidence and fully fit.
In addition to the goal involvements, his trickery, direct running, pace and movement on that right side is becoming a consistent and effective dynamic in our attacking play, and it’s hoped that he can maintain that level throughout the campaign.
Crucial goal for Diaby
Having gone nine league games without a goal, seeing Diaby get on the scoresheet was vital as it will hopefully give him the boost that he perhaps needed after such a barren run.
He did go on to miss a number of good chances though, and so that will be an obvious point of emphasis for him and the Villa coaching staff in the coming weeks to add a ruthless end product to his play.
While his link up with Bailey is showing positive signs, it’s so important that he starts showing more consistency in the second half of the season to help us maintain this start.
Defensive improvements needed
If there is an area that will be critiqued, it’s our defensive play. While Villa are the second highest goalscorers in the Premier League after Man City with 43 goals in 20 games thus far, we’ve also conceded 27 in those outings.
That gives us the third worst defensive record of the top seven sides, and just two clean sheets in our last 17 games across all competitions, which came against Man City and Arsenal.
If we want to compete for silverware come the latter stages of the season, that has to improve. While it hasn’t necessarily hurt us to this point, it eventually will, and given the manner in which we’re conceding many of them where it all feels a little too easy for the opposition, we have to start shutting teams out more often.
Watkins shows his class as he turns provider
That’s now eight Premier League assists so far this season for our frontman, the most of any player in the top flight, and along with his 14 goals across all competitions, he is continuing to lead the way up top.
Naturally, Watkins will be desperate to score in every game, but he showed that with his movement, intelligence and creative qualities, he can still be decisive without them.
His runs into the channels were fundamental in breaking Burnley down in this game, as he not only dragged defenders wide to open up spaces in the middle, but he was able to show composure and class to find a teammate in the middle to set them up to score two big goals.
Fundamental response after disappointing results
It was crucial that Villa bounced back and got back to winning ways in this game after what was a bitterly disappointing few days last week.
Dropping points at home to Sheffield Utd and then losing at Man Utd in the manner we did, the top teams produce a reaction and get out of a slump before it deepens, and albeit it wasn’t entirely convincing, we ultimately got the job done.
That will hopefully lift spirits and confidence again, if indeed they had been negatively impacted in the first place, and we’ve now got time to recharge, regroup and prepare for a calmer January during which we’ll look to solidify our top four spot and advance in the FA Cup.
