Youri Tielemans has been thriving for Aston Villa

HomeStats & Tactics Sun 28 April 2024 18:10, UK

Aston Villa missed the chance to extend their lead over Tottenham in the race for the Champions League as they drew 2-2 with Chelsea at Villa Park.

Unai Emery's side had taken a two-goal lead thanks to an own-goal from Marc Cucurella and Morgan Rogers' third Premier League strike of the season before second-half efforts from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher pulled the away side level.

Perhaps more worrying than the draw on Saturday (27 April) would have been the fact that Emery had lost both Youri Tielemans and Emi Martinez to injury, with the Belgian midfielder being withdrawn after 27 minutes.

As quoted by The Athletic on Sunday (28 April) he said: "Tomorrow we will test him (Martinez). And with the injury with Tielemans, we will wait for tomorrow. Hopefully not a lot. Martinez is very important, that's clear.

"He saves us a lot. But Robin (Olsen) saved us in minute 90 in a man-on-man against (Cole) Palmer."

How long will Youri Tielemans be out injured for after Aston Villa injury v Chelsea? Tielemans didn't have a major impact on proceedings against Chelsea, but the Belgian midfielder showed his quality both in and out of possession as he completed 86 per cent of his seven attempted passes, according to Fotmob.

One of those seven efforts found a teammate in claret blue in the final third, while the 26-year-old also completed all but one of his attempted long balls. He tends to keep it simple on the ball, but the Belgian is crucial when retaining possession.

Off the ball, in his 27 minutes of action, the Villa midfielder entered four ground duels, coming away with possession in 75 per cent of his battles. Although he lost 100 per cent of his tackles, he got stuck in with two efforts.

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In the win over Arsenal at the Emirates, Tielemans showed just how important he is to Emery's system in the biggest games as he completed 88 per cent of his 49 attempted passes and even picked up the assist for Ollie Watkins' goal.

When compared to other midfielders in the Premier League, Tielemans places in the 97th percentile for assists per 90 minutes this season, with an average of 0.35 every game, according to Fbref.

His style has been so crucial to Aston Villa this season as he always looks to play teammates in behind the opposition defence, something which Watkins thrives off of. He places in the top two per cent of midfielders for through balls attempted per game.

The 26-year-old managed to hit the woodwork with his one shot on David Raya's goal. While he would have been disappointed to have not found the net, his effort only carried an xG of 0.02 so it showed his ability in the final third.

Tielemans doesn't score many goals, but when he does they tend to be spectacular. So far this term he places in the 40th percentile of his peers for goals scored this season, but the 33rd for expected goals.

Will Unai Emery and Villa qualify for the Champions League? While the likes of Watkins and even potentially Martinez are Emery's most important players, Tielemans has become an integral part of Villa's midfield and losing him for the remainder of the season would be an enormous blow.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has had to contend with a number of injuries this season Villa are still in the driving seat for the Champions League this season, but they need to finish the job and that will become a much harder job if the Belgian is ruled out.

Hopefully, it won't be a serious injury. Until an update emerges Emery and every Villa supporter will be left sweating as their top four hopes may seriously be hanging in the balance.

In other Aston Villa news, Clement Lenglet has been tipped to make his switch to Villa Park permanent despite new developments