OPINION
The pressure is mounting on Scott Hogan to finally deliver in an Aston Villa shirt as Steve Bruce’s side travel to Wales to face Cardiff on Saturday afternoon.
The 25-year-old looks to have finally put his injury demons behind him at Villa Park after a tumultuous first six months with the club following his big-money move from Brentford in January.
Hogan moved to Villa for a fee of £12million after scoring 14 goals in 24 Championship outings during the first half of the 2016-17 season with the Bees, but managed just one more goal in claret and blue last season.
The striker suffered a nasty knee injury which hampered his progress with the Midlands giants. Starting the first four games prior to the injury, Hogan was used intermittently after recovering from the problem.
Ivory Coast international and last season’s top scorer Jonathan Kodjia is still sidelined with an ankle problem, but is expected to return to action before the end of the month.
The Birmingham Mail claim Kodjia, who scored 19 goals in 40 Championship outings last season, will be on the treatment table until the end of August, missing Villa’s next four league outings.
That has opened up a window for Hogan to go out and prove to manager Bruce that he has what it takes to start over the former Bristol City hotshot as Villa’s first-choice centre-forward.
Wearing the number nine shirt, Hogan must build on his second goal for the club against Colchester on Wednesday night in the Carabao Cup by leading the line and firing Villa to their first three points of the season.
Hogan must find the back of the net against Cardiff and then continue his goalscoring form against the likes of Norwich, Bristol City and Reading while Kodjia watches on from the stands.
If he can do just that, then Hogan will cement his place in the Villa starting line-up and force Bruce to consider a partnership alongside Kodjia, rather than replacing Hogan with the 27-year-old.
Hogan needs goals to reignite his stuttering career and he must find the back of the net against Cardiff to prevent his Villa stay from being labelled as a waste of money.