Aston Villa winger Leon Bailey received a host of praise for his performance against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, with some declaring the winger as one of the world’s best.
Aston Villa returned to winning ways at Villa Park on Saturday with a dominant 4-2 victory over Nottingham Forest.
Unai Emery’s side flexed their attacking superiority by scoring four goals, with Ollie Watkins, Douglas Luiz and Leon Bailey responsible for the three-point-earning strikes.
While Watkins claimed his 14th goal of the Premier League season and Luiz scored a brace, it was Bailey who found himself as Villa’s highest-rated performer of the day, via Sofascore, thanks to his emphatic display.
How Leon Bailey played against Nottingham Forest
Prior to the match, it would be assumed that Forest would have intensely studied the threat that Villa’s Jamaican can exert, although the 26-year-old’s talent is a force that at times cannot be stopped.
It took the winger just four minutes to break down Forest’s left side, displaying some admirable footwork to beat his man, then put the ball on a plate for Watkins to bury.
Recording a goal, an assist, two shots on target and completing 100% of his crosses, Bailey was in searing form and deserved his goal in the second half.
What has been said about Leon Bailey after the Nottingham Forest performance
While it was an exceedingly good performance from the winger, it was not unexpected due to the form he’s been in this season.
At the start of the campaign, the 26-year-old had to wait to earn his spot in the starting XI, something he achieved due to his hard work and persistence when he was handed his chance.
Speaking on the Claret & Blue podcast in reaction to the win over Forest, journalist John Townley was bursting with praise for Villa’s in-form forward.
“He’s playing as one of the best wingers in the world at the moment.”
“I’m kind of speechless about him, he stands his opponent up, beats him, skins him and lays it on a plate. He makes it look easy now. He’s playing with so much confidence it’s almost impossible to play against him.”
Townley then went on to admit that he would struggle to replace Bailey with any player in his position in the world right now, mentioning Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka as a fellow right winger.
“Right now, I wouldn’t swap Bailey for Saka, I genuinely wouldn’t.”
With eight goals and seven assists now in the Premier League, it’s difficult to imagine where Villa would be without the help of Bailey, who is playing some of the best football of his career this season.
Townley’s claims are justified by simply taking a look at the Jamaican’s statistics this season in the Premier League, where he ranks in the top 1% of players in his position in an array of areas, via FBref.
At the start of the season, not many would have predicted just how good Bailey would come for Emery’s side this term, particularly after the signing of Moussa Diaby and Nicolo Zaniolo, two players that could have threatened his position.
