Aston Villa were forced to share the spoils after surrendering a lead in our 1-1 draw with West Ham on Sunday.
Jacob Ramsey gave us an early advantage after we’d made an impressive start in the opening stages, but Villa weren’t able to build on that and finish the game off.
READ MORE: Tyrone Mings injury update after Villa setback vs West Ham
The visitors deserve credit as they grew into the game and became more of a threat, and Emerson headed home their equaliser in the second half before they threatened to turn the game around.
Villa secured a point but will be disappointed that it wasn’t more, as our focus now switches to a pivotal showdown in the Champions League against Celtic on Wednesday night.
Hope that Mings has avoided serious injury setback
Villa Park fell silent in the latter stages of the first half, as Tyrone Mings fell to the ground clutching his knee in what was feared to be another serious injury.
It was encouraging to see him try to continue, but ultimately he was forced off in the 38th minute, and based on his emotional reaction as he headed straight down the tunnel, we feared the worst.
Fortunately, both Emery and the Villa defender himself have allayed those fears to an extent as they’ve ruled out a serious setback, but the commanding centre-half is still expected to be sidelined now as we lose another option at the back.
Ramsey reiterates importance of role in Villa XI
Aside from showing real quality for his goal as his touch and finish were excellent, Ramsey showed again why he’s so important to this team.
Operating on the left side of our attacking trident, he not only works tirelessly off the ball to give us defensive help as part our overall shape and system, but his movement off the ball, ability to find pockets of space and stretch the pitch are all key aspects to us being more effective going forward.
He needs to show that quality in the final third more consistently, but his influence is vital for Emery in both phases.
Watkins reaches impressive landmark
Ollie Watkins’ assist on Sunday made it 100 goal contributions in the Premier League, with 69 goals and 31 assists.
That’s a reflection of his quality, consistency and his importance to us, as his assist for Ramsey’s goal showed his effectiveness through incisive link-up play and his creativity to pick out the right pass.
He still needs to be more clinical in front of goal as he missed a big chance at 1-0, but this is a side of his game that continues to give him the edge as Emery’s preferred choice up front.
Emery needs to fix critical Villa issue
There seems to be a number of recurring issues impacting Villa this season, and one of them is our inability to kill teams off after taking the lead.
We looked to be in such a strong position after breaking the deadlock early on, as we were playing with intensity, tempo and energy across the pitch to put pressure on West Ham, and it looked as though we would put the game away in the first half in a throwback performance to what we saw regularly last season.
Mings’ injury had a major impact as we started to lose our way from that point onwards, but we need to be better not only in finishing games off while we’re on top, but responding and reacting when the opposition fight back and start to gain control. Instead of stepping up and imposing ourselves by matching that physicality and tempo to wrestle it back, we wilt under pressure, and that is not a desired trait to go along with our inability to keep clean sheets consistently.
Hit and miss on impact of substitutions
Emery has deservedly been praised on countless occasions for his in-game influence on the sidelines in making changes that have a positive impact.
However, just as we saw in Monaco, and as he conceded after that game himself, we lost our way in the second half on Sunday as our balance, cohesion and rhythm abandoned us as we switched personnel and failed to adapt effectively to the change in approach.
That took the sting out of our attacking play and in truth, we looked less likely to score as the second half went on. That’s on the coaching staff and the players to better execute our gameplan, but Emery has to find that balance when making changes and fatigue is going to be a significant factor in that too.
