Aston Villa currently sit seven points clear of Chelsea in the race for the Champions League.
How would you summarise your season so far?
Villa have had a bit of an up-and-down season.
It was pretty woeful and concerning for the first five games, then a brilliant run across the league and Europe, before another stutter in January when we lost our three key midfielders.
In general, we’ve done incredibly well in juggling multiple competitions —a semi-final in Europe and looking good for Champions League qualification.
On the European stage, Villa beat Bologna to qualify for the semi-finals of the Europa League.
Given Unai Emery’s history in the competition, are you confident you can go all the way?
For the first time in my life, I really do fancy Villa to win something.
Forest in the semis will be tough — we never win
at the City Ground, but I think we’ll be strong at home. We are thirty years without silverware and Emery has to be the man to change that.
Many clubs that break into Europe find it difficult to compete on two fronts.
How have Villa’s midweek matches affected the following league match this season?
I think this season Villa have actually been at their best when playing twice a week.
This team is well prepared for Thursday/Sunday games after three seasons in Europe, and we’ve had relatively good form post-European nights.
Who would you say has stood out so far this season that Sunderland will have to be wary of?
The obvious answer is Morgan Rogers — albeit he’s looked a little fatigued at times from the sheer amount of minutes he’s played for club and country over the last two years.
Ollie Watkins has recently returned to form and is looking very confident, and having Youri Tielemans back from injury has given the team a huge creative boost.
On the other hand, which Villa players would you say have been underwhelming this season?
We’ve struggled for goals this season at times, with Watkins having prolonged dry spells in front of goal.
The lack of goals from the wide attacking/wing positions has also held us back, with Evan Guessand coming in for a decent fee only to be shipped off to Crystal Palace in January, Harvey Elliott barely kicking a ball and Leon Bailey failing to impress on his return.
I read that Elliott hasn’t been selected for Villa in order to not to trigger an automatic clause — what’s the situation there?
A truly awful deal from both Villa and Liverpool.
The clause for games doesn’t apply in Europe and he still barely kicks a ball. I think he only has three or four appearances left before it triggers a mandatory buy clause. Clearly Emery didn’t rate him that much in the first place and it was a bit of bad business on deadline day — soon after we sacked our head of football operations…
If you were Régis Le Bris, how would you set up to exploit Villa’s weaknesses?
Villa have been susceptible to conceding goals from crosses this season — whether from set pieces or just crosses into the box.
In all honesty, the teams we’ve struggled against the most have been those setting up in a defensive low block, as the manager and team still haven’t figured out how to break down these kinds of sides.
How do you expect Emery to set up tactically against Sunderland?
Emery is the kind of manager that makes subtle tweaks and changes to both his tactics and lineup every week, and it’s not always things that I can predict or understand.
He loves the league and will always prioritise winning leaguw games. I would suggest it’ll be a similar lineup to the one against Forest last week.
Are any players missing and who do you think will start?
We’re in a decent place injury wise at the moment, other than Boubacar Kamara.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Jadon Sancho starts in place of Emi Buendia, and perhaps Ian Maatsen for Lucas Digne, but otherwise I’d suggest it’ll be the same team as our midweek game against Bologna.
The two sides drew 1-1 earlier this season — what’s your score prediction this time around?
That draw was the last game of our awful start to the season.
We’re a much-improved team since then and I always back Villa at home. For that reason I’m going for a 2-0 Villa win. I am however chuffed to see a team like Sunderland back in the Premier League and thriving.
UTV!
