In the absence of Douglas Luiz, Aston Villa duo John McGinn and Youri Tielemans will likely be tasked with forming the heartbeat of our side in the next two Premier League games.
Following his late booking against Brentford, Luiz will now miss clashes against Arsenal and Bournemouth, and that in turn leaves a significant void in our midfield that must be filled.
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The Brazilian international has had an excellent season thus far having contributed 10 goals and 10 assists in 46 appearances across all competitions, to go along with the overall influence he has on our play with his technical ability in possession.
However, he will now be absent at a crucial moment in the season, and Unai Emery is expected to lean on McGinn and Tielemans to try and give us presence and control in midfield to come away with positive results.
Tim Iroegbunam will have his say as he continues to push for more playing time, and having been given the nod to face Man City earlier this month, perhaps he’ll get more chances.
That said, with what’s at stake and the experience and quality between McGinn and Tielemans, it makes sense to utilise that during such a pivotal period, with that pairing also able to give us an important balance in that area of the pitch.
As he has done so many times previously, McGinn will be asked to alter his positioning and role for the betterment of the team, with his energy, tenacity and physicality all making him capable of being an important protective shield in front of the backline.
Combined with the technical ability and composure of Tielemans, they’ll hopefully be able to work effectively together, as despite both impressing in a more advanced role this season, it’s a case of needs must at this stage and both will need to excel in a central midfield pairing to give us a foothold in our upcoming games.
While defensive lapses and vulnerabilities have been exposed in recent weeks, which in turn has led to our more porous backline and the conceding of poor goals, it’s also fair to say that we haven’t controlled games in the way we did earlier in the season with the style of play that Emery is still striving to implement on a permanent basis.
A midfield duo of Luiz and Tielemans was arguably never going to give us the necessary balance on a consistent basis as we continue to deal with important absences due to injury, and not having that control or foothold in midfield has contributed to the problems we’ve faced.
Nevertheless, the hope is that McGinn and Tielemans will start on Sunday at the Emirates, and that they can form a midfield partnership that allows us to impose ourselves on the game by not only being the engine room of the side, but also the orchestrators to help us come away from north London with a positive outcome.