There is a lot of pressure on Aston Villa ahead of their Wednesday night game against Brentford.
One thing Unai Emery’s side, unfortunately, have provided all season long in the Premier League is goals galore in their games and that was showcased at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Aston Villa suffered a 3-0 defeat at Chelsea to make it eight games without a win and put huge pressure on the team to turn their fortunes around.
One of the biggest problems facing Emery is the defence and how it has shipped 22 goals this term.
Yet, Villa have kept four clean sheets in the Champions League, as many try to work out what has gone wrong during these past few months.
It’s not going to get any easier against Brentford and don’t be surprised if it’s goals galore again because that’s exactly what Thomas Frank’s side have been involved in this season.
The Bees have scored 26 goals and conceded 23 this term, in comparison to those in the Midlands, who have found the back of the net 19 times.
Andy Townsend has watched Aston Villa during this past week – in the Premier League and Europe – and he feels some ‘freshness’ needs to be added, as he told talkSPORT.
Andy Townsend urges Unai Emery to start Emi Buendia for Aston Villa’s clash against Brentford
Emi Buendia returned from a long-term injury this season, and before that, he was a regular starter under Emery after hardly playing under Steven Gerrard.
For large parts of the season so far, Emery has ignored the playmaker, not even selecting him off the bench on occasions.
But Townsend feels Buendia is ‘ready’ to start for Villa now and he hinted that should happen against Brentford.
“I was at the Bridge and I watched Villa against Juve in midweek,” said Townsend. “They need freshening up. Unai Emery has to do something with that team now.
“Tyrone Mings is back. Emi Buendia is ready to maybe go and play and start a few matches. One or two others would no doubt get a game here and there.
“But I think it has to be freshened up because, I didn’t think they were that impressive against Juve. They were okay, but lacked something in the final third. Against Chelsea, they were miles off it.”
Buendia’s stats for Aston Villa
The two games Buendia has started came in the EFL Cup – but, other than that, he has played sporadically.
The issue here is that Morgan Rogers’ form has dipped, yet he continues to start and Buendia continues to warm the bench.
Surely, just for something different, something needs to change, that’s why you have a squad of players, with Buendia rated at 6.22 by WhoScored for his performances this season, but he has only played 214 minutes, so you can’t be too critical.
| Tournament | Apps | Mins | Goals | Assists | KeyP | Drb | SpG | PS% | MotM | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League Cup | 2 | 168 | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | 86.4 | 1 | 6.81 |
| Champions League | 0(2) | 12 | – | – | 0.5 | 0.5 | – | 72.7 | – | 6.12 |
| Premier League | 0(6) | 34 | – | – | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 84.4 | – | 6.07 |
| Total / Average | 10 | 214 | 1 | 0 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 82.5 | 1 | 6.22 |
