Aston Villa left it late against Wolves, coming back from 1-0 down, to secure a 3-1 victory on Saturday afternoon.
Matheus Cunha gave Wolves the lead after just 25 minutes, and it took Villa until the 73rd minute to find their breakthrough, with Ollie Watkins scoring his third of the season to make it 1-1.
Villa then managed to continue their momentum, finding two more goals to secure the victory and three points, with both Ezri Konsa and Jhon Duran on the scoresheet. This moved Villa up to third in the Premier League, having won four of their opening five games.
But Unai Emery was not happy with his side’s performance, stating “it was the worst we have played” in his interview after the game.
Despite the Spaniards’ disappointment, the Villans secured all three points, and there were some good individual performances.
Watkins and Rogers’ performances
Two of Villa’s standout performers were Watkins and Morgan Rogers. Having not scored in his opening three games this season, the former looks bang in form now with the 28-year-old striker on three goals and two assists in his six games played in all competitions.
Rogers has had a stellar start to the new season too, gaining many plaudits, especially for his performance in Villa’s 2-0 loss to Arsenal. However, yesterday was his first two Premier League goal involvements this campaign, getting two assists.
Watkins had minimal involvement outside his goal, only managing 23 touches, eight accurate passes, and 2/5 ground duels. However, the Englishman took his goal well and threatened in and around the box, managing three shots in total, and missing one big chance.
Rogers, on the other hand, was involved in all phases of play, making three key passes, having 50 touches, completing 2/6 dribble attempts, and contesting 14 duels (ground and aerial) throughout the game. All of this to accompany his two assists.
That said, another stalwart deserves praise…
Why Ezri Konsa deserves praise
Konsa, who scored Villa’s second goal to put them ahead in the game, did far more than just scoring the goal, putting in an excellent all-round display for Emery’s side.
The England international won 5/7 ground duels, made two tackles, and completed a seriously impressive 97% of his passes (56/58) during the game.
The 26-year-old has played every minute so far for Villa this season, making six appearances and totalling 540 minutes played.
Ezri Konsa 2024/25 stats so far | |
|---|---|
Stats (per 90 mins) | Konsa |
Goals | 0.15 |
Progressive Carries | 0.83 |
Progressive Passes | 3.17 |
Passes Attempted | 50.0 |
Pass Completion % | 93.0% |
Passes into Final Third | 3.83 |
Tackles | 1.17 |
Interceptions | 0.75 |
Aerials Won | 1.00 |
Stats taken from FBref | |
A carry is considered progressive if the ball is moved towards the opponent’s goal at least 10 yards from its starting point or is carried into the penalty area.
The defender is naturally a centre-back, however, under Emery, Konsa played 23 games at right-back last season, and has started once at right-back this season, mainly due to his recovery pace, ability to defend wide spaces, and versatility to become a right centre-back in a back three on the ball.
Konsa is a huge part of the Villa side, both on and off the ball, and he showed that yet again with an imperious performance against Wolves, scoring an extremely important goal to top it off.
