Aston Villa’s point at West Ham United has maintained them comfortably within the running for Champions League qualification.
On Sunday, March 17, the two teams drew 1-1 at the London Stadium. This resulted in Villa finishing fourth in the standings, three points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur in fifth, despite the fact that the latter team still has a game in hand.
Unai Emery definitely needed his squad players to come up, especially as they had just played in Europe a few days prior to the trip to East London.
And Nicolo Zaniolo, a forward on loan from Galatasaray, accomplished exactly that, as the striker tied the score in the 79th minute after Michail Antonio had given the home team the lead in the first half.
The Italian was eager to make an impression even though he had only into the game in the 63rd minute to replace January signing Morgan Rogers. He succeeded in doing so when he prodded home after receiving a feed from Moussa Diaby.
Pundit Alan Shearer was undoubtedly drawn to the cameo, and Emery in the dugout was sure to have been pleased.
Shearer said on March 18, the official Premier League website, of Zaniolo, selecting him for his Team of the Week: “Excellent impact when he was brought on by Unai Emery, scoring an equalizer that could prove vital for Villa in the top-four race.”
Thanks to Zaniolo’s well-taken goal, Villa are now unbeaten in their last five Premier League away matches, with three wins and two draws. The last time they went longer without a defeat on the road in the competition was between November 2008 and February 2009, which was a run of seven. According to WhoScored, Zaniolo only registered 20 touches of the ball and did struggle to keep it, completing just 58.3% of his passes, but that’s all he needed. At least he won an aerial duel, and his touch total at the London Stadium wasn’t the worst: teammate Jhon Duran only registered 13 touches despite playing the entire first half.
With any luck, this can spark a strong run of play between now and the season’s conclusion.
In other Aston Villa news, King has suggested leaving Villa Park as a senior star, and an Arsenal transfer request has been made.
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