Aston Villa will have to go for broke when they welcome PSG to Villa Park in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
The Premier League side trails 3-1 after the first leg and, given how dominant the French side has been this season, it will be an extremely tall order for Unai Emery to mastermind a 3-0 win which will secure progress into the last four.
The club take on Southampton in the top flight this weekend. However, Emery will likely make a change or two, especially considering how important the second leg is.
Morgan Rogers shone against the Ligue 1 outfit, but the manager should rest him up ahead of the second leg.
How Morgan Rogers performed against PSG
Despite the 3-1 loss to the current French champions, Rogers was one of Villa’s shining lights. The Englishman opened the scoring after 35 minutes at the Parc des Princes with a nice little finish inside the box to give the away side a confidence boost.
Elsewhere, Rogers also created a big chance, made one key pass, attempted four dribbles – succeeding with one – and was fouled twice during his time on the pitch.
Southampton have already been relegated from the top flight after a dismal season. With this in mind, Emery must ruthlessly ditch Rogers from his starting XI in order to unleash a player who hasn’t had many chances to shine since joining the club from Borussia Dortmund in January.
Donyell Malen, however, scored in their last two league outings, against Brighton and Nottingham Forest respectively, indicating that he deserves another chance this weekend.
Why Donyell Malen must start against Southampton
The Netherlands international wasn’t included in Villa’s Champions League squad for the knockout rounds, hence why it makes perfect sense to bring him back into the starting XI this weekend.
Across nine league matches, Malen has scored twice, while having a 22% goal conversion percentage and has even missed two big chances, suggesting he might have had another goal or two with more accurate finishing.
Metric
Bundesliga
Premier League
Goals
2
3
Assists
0
0
Big chances created
0
1
Shots on target per game
0.8
0.4
Goal conversion percentage
22%
16%
During his spell in the Bundesliga, Malen received high praise from his former teammate Mario Götze, who said: “Donyell is extremely fast and very dangerous. If he has a chance, it’s usually a goal, too.”
In the first half of the season for Dortmund, Malen scored five goals for the German side, including one against Real Madrid in the group stages of the Champions League.
Hardly the most prolific tally in the world, yet when compared to his positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues, Malen currently ranks in the top 1% for non-penalty goals per 90 (0.64) and in the top 9% for total shots per 90 (3.47) over the previous 365 days.
These statistics make him the perfect choice for Emery against the Saints. Not only will it give Rogers a rest ahead of the second leg, but unleashing Malen will give him the chance to score for the third Premier League game in a row.
Therefore, the Spanish must axe the England international from the starting XI for his own good, rather than for performance-related reasons, to bring the January addition in.
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