As we prepare for another tough assignment this weekend, the new balance in the Aston Villa midfield is set for another big test at Brentford.
Thomas Frank’s side have only lost twice at home in the Premier League so far this season, although they do only have the eighth best home record in the league and are in poor overall form currently, having lost their last three outings while they’re also without a win in their last five.
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In turn, this could be a good time to play them, but as Unai Emery stressed in his pre-match press conference on Thursday, the Villa players know how difficult this game will be and we’ll need to be at our best to continue our brilliant form over the past couple of months.
The Villa boss also confirmed this week that Boubacar Kamara, Philippe Coutinho and Leon Bailey all remain sidelined due to injury, and so the expectation is that we’ll be unchanged at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon, unless there are any surprises from the Spaniard.
That means we’ll likely see the same midfield quartet of John McGinn, Leander Dendoncker, Douglas Luiz and Jacob Ramsey, and it will be a pivotal test for them to follow up their impressive collective performance against Newcastle Utd last time out and show improvement.
Being without Kamara is a blow despite our good form in his absence, as his influence in both phases of the game is critical with his defensive solidity and technical quality adding a real presence and control in midfield.
However, Dendoncker showed last weekend that he can certainly fit into Emery’s system and style, and while it was solid rather than spectacular, the Belgian international did an important job in maintaining that all-important balance in midfield with his ability to provide a defensive shield in front of the backline.
His physicality and composure was key in our own third, as he added a presence and level of control to our play in and out of possession, but that’s not where his influence ends.
Dendoncker’s presence in the Villa midfield has a knock-on effect that affords both Luiz and McGinn more offensive freedom, to get forward and add a threat in the final third or to play in more advanced areas and not only dictate play on the ball, but also to create goalscoring opportunities.
Along with Jacob Ramsey, they not only add real quality to our attacking play, but they all put in a shift for the team defensively too, whether that’s tracking back, pressing higher up the pitch or applying pressure and forcing mistakes in midfield.
We’ve found a fundamental balance to the side in that area, and seemingly regardless of personnel. However, we’re undoubtedly going to have our hands full against Brentford this weekend, and we need that midfield quartet to be on their game, to execute the game-plan and give Emery that all-important control of proceedings, which will then allow us to show our quality at both ends of the pitch and hopefully get another three valuable points.