A huge showdown awaits Aston Villa on Saturday evening as they travel to Liverpool in the Premier League.
It’s been a decent start to the season for Aston Villa but they’re currently enduring a rare difficult patch under Unai Emery.
The Villans are winless in their last four matches in all competitions after losing against Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday evening.
The task of ending their recent poor form doesn’t get any easier either as they travel to Anfield this weekend to take on league leaders Liverpool.
Emery has sent a challenge to his Aston Villa squad ahead of the clash, perhaps in response to Arne Slot’s comments on the Villa manager’s style.
Youri Tielemans could miss the clash vs Liverpool
This weekend, the Villa boss will need all of his players on top form to overcome the challenge of Liverpool, including midfield maestro Youri Tielemans.
The Belgian superstar has been ever present in the squad this term, excelling after the departure of Douglas Luiz, scoring once and supplying four assists in all competitions.
Tielemans is the heartbeat of Villa’s midfield and without him, no one can dictate the tempo of a game quite like he can.
To lose the 27-year-old for any period would be a devastating loss and sadly, it has been confirmed by Emery, as per journalist Matt Maher, that Tielemans has pain in his knee.
Emery is hopeful that his invaluable midfielder will be fit enough to play against Liverpool but he hasn’t been included in Belgium’s squad for the international break, as he aims to use that time to rest.
Tielemans stats show Aston Villa importance
Should the worst-case scenario unfold and Tielemans is unable to feature against Liverpool, Emery will need to figure out who replaces him.
Barkley is currently sidelined till after the international break with a small injury, leaving Amadou Onana, Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn as realistic options in deep-lying midfield.
It wouldn’t be an ideal situation for Villa, especially in a game where they’ll have less control in the middle of the park, and the statistics explain why his creativity would be a huge miss.
As highlighted by FBref, Tielemans ranks in the top 2% of midfielders across Europe in the past year for assists per 90 while also placing in the top 20% for shot-creating actions and the top 23% for progressive passes.
| Youri Tielemans per 90 statistics (past year) | Value |
| Assists | 0.31 |
| Shot-creating actions | 3.23 |
| Progressive passes | 6.42 |
| Successful take-ons | 0.85 |
| Tackles | 2.38 |
The above numbers statistically compare him to some excellent Premier League midfielders, most notably Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes and Arsenal’s Declan Rice, further highlighting how much of a big miss he would be.
