Aston Villa snuck through to the next round of the FA Cup last night after getting the better of Ange Postecoglou’s out-of-form Tottenham Hotspur side 2-1.
On another occasion, Unai Emery’s Villans might well have cruised to victory instead of being made to hang on at the end courtesy of a goal from Spurs debutant Mathys Tel, with the hosts registering a bumper seven shots on target across the duration of the entertaining clash.
Thankfully, Villa got the ball rolling early on when homegrown product Jacob Ramsey caught Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky cold, with Ramsey one of many faces for the hosts that can walk away from the Cup win with their heads held high.
Standout Aston Villa performers vs Spurs
The natural place to start here is with Ramsey’s fortuitous goal within the first minute of the match, with the Villa starlet lashing an effort towards the Czech ‘keeper’s net that somehow trickled in.
Away from this perfectly timed opener, there were also the likes of Donyell Malen and Leon Bailey who looked equally as lively in attack with a combined five shots amassed between them, on top of Morgan Rogers stylishly stealing the show from the number ten spot once more.
Rogers would ultimately seal the win with a tap-in deep into the second 45 minutes, with his performance on the night more than deserving of another standout moment in the Villa Park spotlight, considering the on-fire 22-year-old accumulated four key passes, two successful dribbles and won six duels away from this simple finish finding the back of the net.
Whilst there would have been frustrations that Villa leaked a late goal, the main mood around the stadium at full-time would have been one of joy and optimism, especially with the star-studded substitutes bench Emery can now call upon after a busy transfer deadline day.
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Aston Villa star has already shown glimpses of Grealish
Obviously, there was a lot of fanfare surrounding Marcus Rashford’s late introduction into the contest, but Marco Asensio would end up leaving more of a lasting mark on Villa supporters than the Manchester United loanee.
Indeed, Asensio very much showed off his ex-Real Madrid pedigree with a cool and assured 24-minute cameo, amazingly not misplacing any of his 15 passes which was undoubtedly the standout statistic.
Minutes played
24
Touches
20
Accurate passes
15/15
Key passes
1
Dribbles
1
Crosses
2
Duels won
2/3
Possession lost
2
Interceptions
1
Tackles
1
Birmingham Live journalist John Townley gifted the skilful Spaniard a high 8/10 post-match rating despite the 29-year-old barely being on the pitch, stating that his brief showing gave the Villa masses something to ‘cheer’ about late on with more ‘flicks and tricks’ to come as he establishes himself in England.
Asensio will hope he goes down remembered as an exciting player in the West Midlands in a similar manner to Jack Grealish with the Spain international’s cameo certainly showing a few shades of the Midlands native. The backheel to set free Rogers at one stage (footage above) was simply marvellous.
Both Asensio and Grealish certainly share similar traits with both players in question regularly leaving defenders in a spin courtesy of a whole array of flashy moves down the wing, with the end product also there to justify the immense trickery.
PSG
47
7
11
Real Madrid
286
61
32
At his previous two esteemed employers, Asensio has managed to pick up an impressive 111 goals and assists from 333 appearances, with Grealish helping himself to a hefty 32 goals and 41 assists when hitting the 200-plus game mark at Villa Park.
Emery will hope Asensio can explode into life like this – away from these promising beginnings in Birmingham – to show off his PSG and Madrid best.
The options the ex-Arsenal manager has at his disposal now in attack are very impressive as the Villans potentially eye up a FA Cup success as well as a top-four finish in the Premier League.
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