Aston Villa

Aston Villa: Gabriel Agbonlahor hails Ashley Young as good Digne replacement

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Aston Villa may hand Ashley Young a big role now Lucas Digne is set to be sidelined through an ankle injury. 

This has been suggested by the former Villa man Gabriel Agbonlahor who has been speaking to Football Insider ahead of their trip to Elland Road on Sunday.

It has been an international break that Steven Gerrard will want to forget with Digne pulling out of the French national side through his injury issue.

It has now been suggested Digne’s injury may not be quite as bad as it was initially thought with a potential absence of around two-three weeks, according to L’Equipe.

With Villa having made a slightly underwhelming start to the campaign, Agbonlahor now expects the 37-year-old, Young, to be handed the vacant spot at left-back:

“I think he might look at Ashley Young at left-back, [Calum] Chambers at right-back with [Ezri] Konsa and [Tyrone] Mings in the middle,” Agbonlahor said.

“I think that’s the best available defence. They’ve got enough cover there, Aston Villa. That’s why you have big squads, so you are not hurt when you’ve got injuries like this. Aston Villa will be fine whilst Cash and Digne are out.”

TIF Thoughts on Agbonlahor’s comments…

Well, Young will certainly bring an awful lot of experience to Gerrard’s side and potentially a lot more yellow cards having already picked up two in his opening three league appearances.

Do you have confidence in Ashley Young?

Yes

Yes

No

No

Young racked up 24 appearances last season in the Premier League but he was only able to provide two assists with a 16-game baron run by the end of the campaign.

In comparison, Young was not able to provide the same attacking threat that Digne did with almost half the number of shot-creating actions per 90 (via Fbref).

However, he did provide an impressive defensive cover for the Frenchman and actually slightly bettered the number of tackles per 90 that Digne managed (via Fbref).

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