Aston Villa are again in motion for the ultimate time this season as they journey to Manchester Metropolis in what might be a dramatic finish to the 2021/22 Premier League marketing campaign.
Villa’s earlier outing on Thursday evening noticed them draw 1-1 towards relegation-battling Burnley.
Having given away the penalty which put the guests forward, Emi Buendia then made up for his error by scoring the equaliser for Steven Gerrard’s facet of their closing recreation at Villa Park this season.
Now that the Villans have a quite robust problem forward of them this weekend to attempt to get a end result towards a Metropolis staff aiming to safe their fourth league title in 5 years, the Midlands membership will must be at their finest to have any likelihood of getting all three factors.
On the chalkboard
One determine in Gerrard’s squad who didn’t begin towards Burnley however we really feel must be within the staff to tackle Pep Guardiola’s facet is Philippe Coutinho.
Since arriving within the Midlands from Barcelona in January, initially on loan earlier than lately making the switch permanent, the Brazilian has been an enormous attacking menace for the Villans.
With 18 Premier League appearances below his belt for Villa, the 29-year-old has scored 4 targets and supplied three assists.
To additional spotlight how a lot of an attacking nuisance the previous Liverpool star has been for opponents, he has the very best common for photographs per league recreation (2.3) of anybody in Villa’s squad.
Ought to Coutinho begin towards Metropolis?
As well as, solely Ollie Watkins (31) and Danny Ings (16) have racked up extra shots on target for Gerrard’s staff within the Premier League than the Brazil worldwide.
Taking this into consideration, it’s secure to say that Coutinho – who has been dubbed “world-class” by his supervisor – has the power to trigger Metropolis and their defence a whole lot of issues on Sunday.
Having scored five goals in seven earlier appearances towards the Manchester membership, the 29-year-old additionally has the prospect to trigger them nightmares as soon as once more and probably cease them from lifting the Premier League title.
By way of who may drop out of the staff to make manner for Coutinho this afternoon, Carney Chukwuemeka did not make an affect towards Burnley the opposite evening, so he appears more likely to be the one to make manner for the rather more skilled and lethal Brazilian.
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