Aston Villa’s under 21’s lost 3-2 against Crawley on Tuesday night, but despite the defeat Rico Richards was highly impressive.
It was EFL Trophy action for the Aston Villa U21s last night as group toppers Crawley Town were the opponents.
Villa were beaten 3-2 which resulted in them remaining rock bottom of Southern Group B.
Crawley meanwhile moved clear at the top with seven points after three games. Villa have just two.
But despite losing, one Aston Villa man played excellently and deserves praise, that being Rico Richards.
Standout performance against Crawley
Richards played the entire game and had a massive impact for the Villa, having a hand in both goals scored as per SofaScore.
He scored one and assisted one which shows how pivotal he was, without his contributions, Villa could’ve been looking at a heavy defeat.
Alongside scoring and assisting, he also completed 100% of his dribbles and made two key passes.
Outside of being an attack force he also dominated the Crawley full-back, winning six duels in the game.
Defensively he contributed two clearances and an interception, but ultimately wasn’t enough to win the game for Villa.
Featuring alongside Omari Kellyman who the club are excited by, Richards definitely stood out.
Will Richards play for the senior team?
Villa managed to snap up Richards on a free back in July 2023, after he departed West Brom and already this looks to be a good deal.
At 20 years old, Richards will be expecting and hopeful of impressing Unai Emery as quickly as possible.
This performance will have caught attention, but likely means little in the grand scheme of things, with a call up to the senior side unlikely off the back of a display v Crawley.
