Aston Villa’s hopes for the run-in rest on maintaining their impressive form and securing a top-four finish in the Premier League. Unai Emery’s side has been strong at Villa Park and will need to continue picking up crucial points, especially against direct rivals for European spots.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Charlie, looking at Aston Villa and that sort of display in the FA Cup against Spurs sort
00:08of highlighted the key partnerships they have across the pitch. Jacob Ramsey, Morgan Rodgers
00:14have really made a huge impact this season. They've been given a lot of freedom by Unai
00:20Emery this term and it's clearly worked, obviously. The early goals in the Champions League as
00:25well was quite interesting against Celtic. They've clearly been given a licence to roam,
00:31a licence to go out and express themselves and this partnership is really looking good.
00:35What sort of Unai Emery's thoughts and Villa fans' thoughts on how good they've been this
00:40season?
00:41It's definitely a partnership that's flourishing, Ramsey and Rodgers. I'd be interested to see
00:45what the introductions of Rashford and Asensio will do to that. But the form that they're
00:49in at the moment, could they even be a way into starting 11 for the new signings? I'm
00:53not too sure, to be honest. Just the confidence that Ramsey's got. He's had so many injury
00:57problems over the last few years, recurring injury problems, but he seems to be back up
01:02to speed touch wood and he's playing so, so well alongside Rodgers. We might even be able
01:06to see them both in an England set up together at some stage. They just have that connection
01:10that some players just seem to get effortlessly. 1-2s in behind defences, knowing where each
01:15other are going to be. They've got the same kind of pace and physicality to turn away
01:19from defenders and create moves in an instance. So, so exciting for Villa fans. It's the kind
01:24of players that get fans off of their seats and that's what you need at every kind of
01:28football club. Rodgers in particular, though, so, so impressive. The fact he's starting
01:32week in and week out, having signed only 12 or 13 months ago from Middlesbrough for £8
01:38million plus £7 million in add-ons. That looks like an absolute bargain now. So yeah,
01:42those two in particular, really flourishing in their partnership.
01:47The new signings, they're obviously going to try and make it a bit of a partnership
01:50going as well, Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio. I mean, they looked fantastic in their FA Cup
01:56debuts for Villa against Spurs. I mean, what does that sort of do for Villa's confidence
02:02now in this run-in? They've obviously had a few inconsistent results at times. Players
02:07of that quality, players of that ilk, who've got so much experience at the top level, they're
02:12looking to just get Villa over the line. That top four race is incredibly tough to
02:18break into at the moment, but they need to make sure that they're all they're about and
02:22these signings could have a huge impact on that.
02:25Absolutely. The inconsistency, as you mentioned, I think a lot of that is down to tired legs
02:30at times. Emery likes to have the same system, same structure wherever possible. Before,
02:35he didn't have the depth to swap out players and keep that structure necessarily. We saw
02:38when John Duran came in alongside Watkins up top, it didn't quite work. Little turns
02:42here and there, nutmegs, one-twos outside the boot passes. It's the kind of flair that
02:47you want to see off the bench, but into the starting 11, I think that can work as well
02:51and it can fit into the same structure that Emery wants, direct on the turn, getting Villa
02:56quick and forward as quickly as possible on the transition.