Unai Emery must make one bold selection call as Aston Villa prepare for their visit to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.
The Villans were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, ending their chances of winning a trophy for the first time in 29 years.
Unai Emery outlined his desire to focus on just the Premier League and Champions League, as he left Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres out of the squad completely in midweek.
One Villa expert claimed that was one call Emery got completely wrong against Crystal Palace, and he must make another key decision against Tottenham.
Unai Emery has a selection headache in Aston Villa’s midfield
With everyone returning to full fitness, the middle of the park is one of Villa’s strongest areas of the pitch and one that will cause the manager a headache.
Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana have been preferred for most of the season, with the Belgian duo complimenting each other with their attributes.
Onana is the physical powerhouse, who can outmuscle his opponents, while Tielemans is the midfield orchestrator capable of running a game on his own.
Frenchman Boubacar Kamara has recently added strong competition to the engine room. Kamara made his first start in eight months against Palace and played amazing alongside John McGinn.
Kamara offers exceptional ball-winning attributes and a defensive screen that no other player in the Villa squad is capable of achieving.
However, as Emery eases the 24-year-old back into the motion of playing regular football, he’s unlikely to start the trip to Tottenham but there is another talent who should.
- READ MORE: Paul Merson contradicts himself in bizarre Aston Villa score prediction against Tottenham
Why Ross Barkley must start vs Tottenham
Ross Barkley has had to be patient for game time since returning to Aston Villa in the summer, starting just once in the Premier League – the goalless draw against Manchester United.
The 30-year-old has often come off the bench to replace Onana at half-time, with Emery choosing to make a tactical tweak in the middle of the park.
The Spaniard does this because the ‘unbelievable’ Barkley offers more control in midfield than the Belgian, rarely gifting possession away cheaply.
Control is exactly what Villa need when they visit Tottenham this weekend, as Ange Postecoglu’s attacking style typically opens up space in transition and the Englishman’s lung-bursting runs and passing range will come in handy.
As highlighted by FBref, Barkley ranks in the top 2% of midfielders across Europe for successful take-ons and the top 17% for creative actions, with the former Luton star perhaps offering a greater creative threat than Onana.
After scoring in the draw against Bournemouth last weekend, Martin Keown said Barkley is playing the best football of his career, and that statement should see him start over Onana at Tottenham.
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Three hours after this opinion article was published, Unai Emery has now explained Ross Barkley will be unavailable.
