Aston Villa manager, Unai Emery has admitted that he may change his team ahead of the Manchester City game this midweek.
This season has been great for Aston Villa so far but the upcoming week will define them. With Manchester City and Arsenal visiting Villa Park three days apart, there is one of two ways it can go.
Under Unai Emery, the Villans have been superb at home and as a result, haven’t lost since February of this year. Ironically the last defeat came to Arsenal who scored two late winners on the day.
With these two games, Villa came into them having already played two other games in the previous five days.
Against Bournemouth, there was some slight rotation as stars like Moussa Diaby and Matty Cash were sidelined. They both came on and their manager assured fans it wasn’t for rest, it was purely tactical.
Although that may be the case, the need for rotation as fixtures pile up is just going to be needed. It does now appear that Emery is going to make the most of his whole squad.
What has Unai Emery said?
The upcoming games could define Villa’s season. Two wins and they are likely to be in with a chance for top spot. A good total of points between 2-4 would keep the Villans alive in the hunt for Champions League football. Two defeats on the bounce could see them drop out of the top four and damage their early progress.
With all that being taken into account, rotation is going to be necessary to keep the squad fresh and help win those games.
On any potential rotation, Emery has been discussing the upcoming games with the Express and Star in a recent interview.
On his side in the coming weeks, he said: “Of course, we played on Thursday, Sunday and two matches next week. It’s difficult to set up the same starting XI in those matches.
“I am sure, not completely, but I think we will change something for Wednesday. We are trying to build a team, not only 11 players. I will give everyone chances. They have to feel important.”
Against Bournemouth, Nicolo Zaniolo came in but didn’t show much and was hooked at halftime. Leon Bailey shone and Moussa Diaby showed some class when he came on.
Villa need all their stars performing to the top of their game and keeping a reliable starting XI could be favourable.
Either way, all Villa fans have full trust in Emery. Whoever he chooses to play will be backed at Villa Park in both matches.
