Aston Villa’s excellent Premier League form continued with a victory over Leicester City last night as Unai Emery’s men made it five wins in their previous six matches.
The Spaniard has certainly been an inspired choice since Steven Gerrard's sacking and has managed to salvage Villa’s season which under the Liverpudlian, was heading for disaster.
The Foxes are battling relegation, and it was a chance for the Midlands side to keep up their hot streak, and they didn’t disappoint. Ollie Watkins slotted home a wonderful through ball by Emiliano Buendia in the first half, before Harvey Barnes equalised before the break.
Kieran Dewsbury-Hall’s sending-off changed the game and late substitute Bertrand Traore netted the winner with just minutes left, delightfully curling and chipping the ball beyond the Foxes 'keeper.
The winger enjoyed a solid cameo by netting a rare goal, and may now have just forced his way into Emery’s plans ahead of a crucial few weeks coming up.
The true hero for Villa was Buendia, however, who arguably put in his best performance for weeks.
How did Emiliano Buendia play against Leicester City?
Operating on the left of a four-man midfield, Emery was looking for the player to have more of an impact than he did against Chelsea last weekend, where he took just 28 touches in 76 minutes and managed zero shots.
His decision paid off handsomely last night, with the Argentine putting in an excellent performance, and with a Sofascore rating of 7.8/10, he was statistically Villa’s best player during the clash.
The £75k-per-week playmaker's assist for Watkins’ opener was remarkably his first league assist of the season but his passing ability was clearly on show versus the Foxes.
Indeed, journalist Ashley Preece claimed that one of his passes to Alex Moreno was a “really clever” one with it diverting through the legs of right-back Timothy Castagne.
The former Norwich man also took 55 touches, completed 30 passes and was accurate with 100% of his attempted long balls, proving that he was a driving force in circulating the ball.
The player managed to make four key passes in total during the match too which were clearly vital in securing all three points, and in winning 50% of his duels, making two tackles and interceptions and one clearance, demonstrating his defensive ability and not shirking his duties.
It was another crucial win for the Midlands side, and as a result, they have vaulted into ninth place, an almost unthinkable standing during the opening months of the campaign.
Buendia was Emery’s true hero last night, and he will hope this can give him a boost heading into the next few weeks.
