Aston Villa crashed out of the FA Cup at the hands of Chelsea last night and one player who was missing for Unai Emery could have made a huge difference.
Aston Villa were outfought, outran and outclassed at Villa Park as goals from Conor Gallagher, Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez and a Moussa Diaby consolation handed the hosts a disappointing 3-1 defeat.
The visitors, who were essentially playing to save Mauricio Pochettino’s job, showed more desire and determination than Unai Emery’s side to secure their passage into the fifth round.
At times, Villa were dominated by an onslaught of Chelsea attacks as centre-back Diego Carlos left fans frustrated and Douglas Luiz was slammed for his particularly ‘weak’ display.
It was an uncharacteristic performance from Emery’s troops as several of their stars cowered into their shells and had no response to what the Blues threw at them.
A large reason for that was the injury to Ezri Konsa, who looks set to miss the next three to four weeks of action in what is a huge blow to Emery.
Without him in the side, Boubacar Kamara often had to drop into the back three while his side were in possession, but this left Villa outnumbered in the middle of the park as Moises Caicedo, Gallagher and Fernandez dominated proceedings as a trio.
Konsa’s absence, therefore, serves as a marker of how irreplaceable he is to this Villa side.
Ezri Konsa’s importance to Aston Villa highlighted
Konsa’s availability may not have swayed the direction that the contest went in, but it would have given Villa a lot more control.
The 26-year-old, who they signed from Brentford for £12 million in 2019, is known for his ability to operate in a number of positions as well as carry the ball out from defence with ease and spray passes into midfield.
Villa’s defensive pairing of Carlos and Clement Lenglet were unable to offer the same relentless consistency on the ball as they lost possession a combined 15 times and misplaced 11 of their attempted long balls, as per Sofascore.
In this system, Emery relies on his defenders to be comfortable in possession, but during his spell in the side, Lenglet has proven he can’t match the levels of Konsa or Pau Torres as a progressive ball-player.
The Frenchman can often get the ball stuck under his feet and isn’t quick to progress the ball up the pitch, which can slow down the rhythm of Villa’s build-up play.
It’s no coincidence that in the 18 top-flight matches that Konsa and Torres have started in defence, the Villans have lost three times and they are both so important in their quest to finish in the top four.
