Aston Villa journalist Gregg Evans has made a claim surrounding Dean Smith’s team selection ahead of their upcoming Premier League match against Brighton & Hove Albion.
This comes after Evans recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Villa-themed podcast 1874 where he spoke about a number of topics concerning the Birmingham club.
On the subject of Marvelous Nakamba, who started Villa’s previous league match against Arsenal ahead of Douglas Luiz, Evans had this to say about the midfield man. (16.40)
He said: “I actually think Nakamba probably deserves to start against Brighton. I don’t think he’s done anything wrong. I don’t necessarily think Luiz did anything wrong but when a player comes in and takes a chance like that, I think it’s only fair that they get another go, so I’d give him another go.
“[Nakamba] moves the ball quickly, [he] made some really important tackles and interceptions [against Arsenal], I think Villa almost missed that at times. I really like Luiz, but I think that Nakamba just offers something slightly different.”
Villa signed Nakamba back in the 2019 summer transfer window from Belgian side Club Brugge for a fee of £10.8 million. Since then, the 27-year-old, who is currently valued at £7.2 million, has made 44 appearances for the club but has yet to register a goal or assist in a Villa shirt (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Gregg Evans’ comments on Nakamba starting against Brighton…
Taking into account how Nakamba managed to earn himself a decent match rating of 7.13/10 for his performance against Arsenal, this suggests to us that he took his chance to impress Smith against Arsenal and showed why he should start against Brighton in Villa’s next game at the weekend.
Who would you start against Brighton?
Douglas Luiz
Marvelous Nakamba
In our view, Smith should allow Nakamba to show that he can continue to put in good performances for the team by starting him against Brighton and seeing how he gets on.