Although Aston Villa have turned a corner in the Premier League with two recent wins tallied up, Unai Emery’s men are without a victory from their last two encounters in the Champions League.
A 1-0 loss to Club Brugge was a bizarre defeat to take, as Tyrone Mings’ comical incident when picking the ball back up resulted in the Brugge winner, whilst a goalless draw with Juventus last time out for the Villans could have been another great win at Villa Park in Europe if it wasn’t for the intervention of VAR ruling out Morgan Rogers’ late goal.
Emery will just be praying that Villa getting back into their groove in the league means a positive performance and result is coming later versus RB Leipzig, with a number of standout performers impressing the Spaniard in the top-flight.
Aston Villa's key performers in the Premier League
After eight winless games in a row in all competitions, the relief was palpable when Villa beat Brentford towards the start of the month, as Emery’s men showed no signs of rust in toppling Thomas Frank’s Bees 3-1.
Rogers was especially on top form in that confidence-boosting win, with a stunning goal next to his name setting Villa on their way to the three points, on top of the fact he also managed to amass two successful dribbles and three key passes as an attacking livewire.
Ollie Watkins also chipped in with a strike from the penalty spot in the convincing victory, with Emery hopeful that the England international can exploit the Leipzig defence in some capacity, having sat out the 1-0 win over Southampton.
But, his replacement on the day could get the nod to start again versus the German hosts, with Jhon Duran potentially being deployed as Villa’s very own Benjamin Sesko to counteract Leipzig’s firepower, after scoring this decisive winner against the Saints.
Aston Villa's very own Sesko
It goes without saying now to the Villa faithful that Duran is a potent finisher of chances, having bagged five Premier League goals this season from just one start, which funnily came against Russell Martin’s lowly visitors.
That total betters Sesko’s own goal haul in league action for Leipzig by one, despite the fact the Slovenian striker has accumulated 13 starts in contrast and has previously been noted as a “monster” in front of goal by football analyst Ben Mattinson.
Still, at the very peak of his game, the Slovenia international can be as deadly as fellow youngster Duran when breathing down on goal, with the strike above in Champions League action earlier this campaign versus Juventus demonstrating his coolness in taking just one touch before emphatically firing home.
The Colombian loves scoring similar goals that come like a bolt from the blue for opposition defenders to contain, with his strike against Southampton seeing him pressure the South Coast side into making an error defensively, before calmly slotting away the opportunity that then came about.
Minutes played
20
Goals scored
1
Assists
0
Touches
13
Total duels won
6/8
Looking at the table above too, the “special” 20-year-old – as he was labelled by Emery last campaign – has had lots of joy against Bundesliga teams this season to date, as the winner fell his way against Bayern Munich back in October from just 13 touches of the ball.
Imagine what the explosive attacker could possibly be capable of over a full 90 minutes away in Leipzig, with Marco Rose’s men susceptible to a leaky display at the back as well, by conceding ten goals from five Champions League contests.
If he isn’t at his clinical best from the start, Emery can just unleash Watkins when he wants to, as a third straight victory in all competitions remains firmly on the ex-Arsenal boss’ agenda.
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