Aston Villa have been defeated by Crystal Palace this afternoon as Steven Gerrard’s facet as soon as once more displayed their Jekyll and Hyde character.
Having misplaced their opening Premier League match in opposition to Bournemouth, a stable 2-1 win over Everton appeared to have lastly sparked some life into Villa, and so they have been aiming to again up that consequence with one other victory as we speak at Selhurst Park.
It didn’t precisely work out like that, regardless of Ollie Watkins – who has been linked with a transfer away from the Midlands – scoring the opener. Wilfried Zaha quickly equalised for the house facet, who quickly thought they have been forward by means of Jeffrey Schlupp, however the objective was disallowed as Odsonne Edouard had drifted offside.
VAR as soon as once more reared its head, however in a optimistic method for Palace as they have been awarded a penalty, which Zaha duly transformed from the rebound to provide the house facet the lead. The three factors have been wrapped up by substitute Jean-Philippe Mateta to make sure a 3-1 victory.
McGinn was Villa’s weak link
This was probability for Villa to make it back-to-back wins, however there have been too many poor performers through the encounter, maybe none extra so than McGinn.
The Scot acquired a SofaScore ranking of 6.3, the joint-lowest within the Villa facet alongside Jacob Ramsey and he lacked any type of affect on his crew all through the competition.
He solely had 39 touches throughout the entire match, ten fewer than Emiliano Martinez, and in a recreation that Gerrard would have wished the Villa captain to take by the scruff of the neck, he largely upset.
McGinn received simply four out of his 9 duels, misplaced possession 13 instances and made solely 19 passes, failing to deliver others into the match. To prime all of it off, he was booked within the first half after fouling Eze and he was living on the edge thereafter, making just a few fouls which may have seen him despatched off.
Are Aston Villa too good to go down?
Yes
No
It was a poor efficiency total from Villa, and Gerrard will probably be questioning what he has to do to string back-to-back victories collectively. The 42-year-old has had a solid transfer window, bringing in high quality gamers resembling Boubacar Kamara and making Philippe Coutinho’s mortgage deal everlasting, however issues clearly haven’t clicked simply but.
If they don’t enhance, and sharpish, they might face a battle on the backside finish of the Premier League desk. They will want extra from the likes of McGinn than what he confirmed as we speak, because the skipper let his supervisor down with a largely nameless efficiency.
