This £75k-p/w gem could help Aston Villa ease the loss of Douglas Luiz this weekend.
Aston Villa are in heaven right now. Nobody could have expected the Midlands club to be in a title race heading into the Christmas period at the start of the season, but they are.
The Villans recorded two consecutive wins in the Premier League over the past week at home against treble-winners Manchester City and an in-form Arsenal and even the most pessimistic supporters are now dreaming of pulling off an unprecedented charge for the crown for the first time since 1981.
Thankfully for Villa, after two incredibly intense matches, they now have a dead rubber game against Zrinjski in the Europa Conference League tonight, needing just a draw to seal progression as the group leaders. This game offers head coach Unai Emery a chance to experiment with his starting lineup.
Douglas Luiz’s stats this season
Unfortunately for Villa, every silver lining has a cloud. Following the colossal win over Arsenal on Saturday evening, midfielder Douglas Luiz picked up another yellow card, meaning the Brazilian will be absent for the team’s trip to Brentford this Sunday.
Luiz has been truly outstanding this season under Emery. Former Villa man Paul Merson called the ex-Man City midfielder “one of the most underrated players” in the Premier League, while Jermaine Pennant even claimed that Luiz can do “everything that [Declan] Rice can do and better”.
When comparing Luiz’s stats this season to Rice’s, perhaps Pennant’s comments aren’t as fanatical as they seem.
Losing Douglas for the trip to London on Sunday is a massive blow for Villa but Emery could potentially pull off a masterclass by bringing one player back into the starting eleven.
Leander Dendoncker’s stats this season
One man who has been left out in the cold by Emery this season has been Leander Dendoncker, who was brought to the club back in 2022 for £13m by former boss Steven Gerrard and handed a whopping £75k-per-week deal, having played for a number of years with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the top-flight.
However, it was clear from the get-go that the player wasn’t fancied in the middle of the park by Emery. Since the Spanish coach has taken the reins at Villa Park, Dendoncker has played merely 25 games for the Lions which comes to a lowly 716 minutes, according to Transfermarkt.
Nevertheless, Dendoncker did still have some decent performances for the club since joining eighteen months ago, notably during a 4-0 win against Brentford — coincidentally, this weekend’s opponents — under caretaker manager Aaron Danks. The Athletic journalist Gregg Evans described the Belgian’s display as “superb” throughout the emphatic win. Statistically, the midfielder was sensational during the game.
Coincidentally, Dendoncker’s last start for Villa came against Zrinjski back at the start of October, although he was replaced at half-time, but the 28-year-old hasn’t started a single game in the Premier League since April.
Regardless, while Luiz will be able to play tonight in Europe, Emery could throw Dendoncker back into the fray as a warm-up for Sunday.
