Following the defeat to Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa manager, Unai Emery has to give Leon Bailey a start over Nicolo Zaniolo against AZ Alkmaar.
Last time out, it went wrong for Aston Villa and they will be looking to right the wrongs of the Nottingham Forest defeat.
In the Conference League, Unai Emery’s side have been troubled at times but have still secured six points from a possible nine.
The first group game at Villa Park saw a last-minute John McGinn winner secure three points over Zrinjski Mostar.
Following this came a superb performance away from home against AZ as the Villains came away with a 4-1 win.
Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans were the stars of the show on that day and will be looking to do the same again.
Emery even referred to Bailey as ‘fantastic‘ following his performance in The Netherlands.
Why Leon Bailey needs to start against AZ
In recent weeks, in the Premier League, Nicolo Zaniolo has been preferred to start over the Jamaican winger.
This has been done often as Emery looks to maintain possession and this is helped by the Italian’s presence on the ball.
With that being said, against Forest, his performance was up for criticism. After 45 minutes, he has just 23 touches and failed to take a guilt-edged chance.
Following a lack of impact, he was withdrawn at halftime to be replaced by Bailey, for the second game in a row.
Because of this, the man signed from Bayer Leverkusen must start in the Conference League against AZ.
In spite of a general lack of minutes, the winger has been very good this season. According to Fbref, he ranks in the top two percentile for expected assists and progressive carries per 90.
As well as this he has excelled when it comes to interceptions, take-ons and shot-creating actions. This makes him useful going forward and defensively sound.
Compared to Zaniolo’s zero goal involvements, Bailey’s ten in just 16 games (7 starts) blows him out of the water.
Goals and assists aren’t the only metric that Emery will let influence his decision but it won’t hurt the Jamaican’s chances.
It isn’t that the Italian has been poor, he just seems low on confidence and one goal could spark that into life. But with Bailey in the form he is, Villa can’t sit still and wait for that goal to come.
