Unai Emery will have been left very pleased as his Aston Villa side got off to a strong start to the new season with a 2-1 win away at West Ham.
Unai Emery‘s side showed that you can never read too much into pre-season as Aston Villa overcame a tricky test at the London Stadium despite losing four of their last five pre-season friendlies of the summer.
£50 million summer signing Amadou Onana opened his Villa account just four minutes into the new Premier League season as he thundered home a header from a Youri Tielemans corner.
West Ham levelled in the 37th-minute as Lucas Paqueta calmly despatched a penalty after Matty Cash was adjudged to impede Tomas Soucek.
- READ MORE: Former Premier League referee gives verdict on Matty Cash incident in Aston Villa win vs West Ham
However, it was Jhon Duran who would step up to be the hero, netting an 80th-minute strike that proved to be the winner against a West Ham side with whom he has been heavily linked with a move this summer.
Youri Tielemans named as ‘better’ than Amadou Onana for Aston Villa against West Ham
Onana was imperious on his competitive Villa debut, bossing the midfield as well as rising highest to net the opening goal against West Ham.
- READ MORE: Amadou Onana makes ‘unbelievable’ Unai Emery revelation after Aston Villa debut in West Ham win
However, he was not alone in delivering a strong showing in the Premier League opener, with The Athletic’s Gregg Evans naming Tielemans as the “stand out” performer for Emery.
Evans was speaking to Dan Bardell on the 1874 podcast, where he explained: “”I think Tielemans was actually better than Onana. Onana seems to be getting all the credit and he was statistically excellent, but i just thought Tielemans stood out for me a little bit more on the day.”
Later in the episode, Evans again talked up Tielemans’ display, adding: “For me, Tielemans was excellent. Onana played really well and that relationship clearly helps.
“You wonder how Belgium can’t get it going with Kevin De Bruyne in front of those as well.”
Tielemans’ impressive Aston Villa display in West Ham win
With Douglas Luiz leaving for Juventus this summer, Tielemans was on set-piece duty at the London Stadium.
- READ MORE: How Douglas Luiz fared on his competitive Juventus debut vs Como after leaving Aston Villa
He provided an assist with his first corner of the season for Onana’s goal, but his performance was about far more than dead-ball situations.
Tielemans took a while to get going last season after making the move for free following the end of his Leicester City contract but showed Villa fans he is determined to be a regular in the starting XI despite an influx of midfielders this summer.
According to Sofascore, the 27-year-old made three key passes as well as his assist and maintained a 90% pass success rate across his 90 minutes.
The Belgian also won five of his eight duels against the Hammers, made two interceptions, two tackles and one clearance.
Tielemans will want to build on this display and has surely earned his place alongside Onana for the first home game of the season against Arsenal on Saturday.
