With Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans out of contention vs Sheffield United, Leander Dendoncker should be set to start for Aston Villa.
It has been a campaign without injury and suspension for Aston Villa until the past weeks. Now it seems the Villans are being hampered in some areas.
Last time out against Brentford, Unai Emery’s side was able to come away with a hard-fought 2-1 win. Despite going 1-0 down on the brink of halftime, goals from Alex Moreno and Ollie Watkins secured the three points.
Going into that game, selection dilemmas were aplenty as both Douglas Luiz and Lucas Digne were suspended. This was added to by the absence of Youri Tielemans due to injury. Then during the game, Boubacar Kamara was sent off and is now going to miss three games at the end of the year.
Now it has been confirmed that Pau Torres is injured. This means Emery is without at least three first-team stars for the visit of Sheffield United.
The midfield is where the biggest concern lies due to the lack of strength in depth there. With that being said, Leander Dendoncker deserves the chance to step up in place of Kamara this week.
Why should Leander Dendoncker should start vs Sheffield Utd?
It is safe to say that the Belgian isn’t the rolls-royce of a player that Kamara is but he offers a service in midfield.
Looking at his Fbref profile, some of his stats truly stand out to show what he could offer Emery and his Villa side. From 87.3% pass accuracy to 19 tackles across just seven starts, he is a solid operator at the base of midfield.
With Luiz and John McGinn around him, they bring mobility to the midfield, which Dendoncker can lack at times. There is a lack of respect from fans towards him considering his general lack of minutes and quality performances.
Coming on in the huge win against Arsenal, Emery’s trust had clearly grown in him to get a job done. Dendoncker came on with 23 minutes to go and, according to FotMob, made one tackle and three clearances. The game finished 1-0 with a clean sheet for him which he had contributed towards.
Although Sheffield United arguably don’t pose the same threat as the Gunners, his ability to keep play ticking over will be helpful.
With Kamara missing, Villa need someone to sit in the midfield and allow the other midfielders to push on. Despite not being the best player, Dendoncker has always done a good job and is well deserving of a start.
