Unai Emery will be spending the international break devising a plan to help his Aston Villa side beat the Premier League’s bottom club Everton on Saturday evening.
Aston Villa have enjoyed a decent start to the season, with a 2-0 defeat at home against Arsenal sandwiched between 2-1 wins over West Ham and Leicester City.
Unai Emery will just be glad the football has started again after a busy summer saw seven first-team signings countered by the high-profile departures of Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby.
Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley were both brought in to immediately fill the void left by Luiz, whilst Diaby was not properly replaced with Villa’s summer business.
That has seen Morgan Rogers deployed as a second striker in the three games so far this season, but against Everton Emery may look to switch the youngster back to his usual left wing position.
Aston Villa should use Morgan Rogers to exploit Everton weakness
Villa should be confident facing Everton given the club’s differing fortunes and the fact Sean Dyche’s side are yet to get a point this season.
Even with a full strength Toffees side, Emery would feel his players should have the better of Everton, but now the Villa boss must utilise Rogers in a different role than we have seen so far this season to really target a problem area.
That is because Seamus Coleman went off inured for Ireland in their 2-0 defeat to England on Saturday night in a game that saw Ezri Konsa watch on from the bench after Ollie Watkins pulled out of the squad.
Coleman has had a fine career but is arguably a weakness Villa would have felt they could have exploited at 35 and with his pace a distant memory, but his injury is likely to mean 39-year-old Ashley Young comes into the side.
Young was sent off on the opening day after being caught out and brining down Karou Mitoma who was through on goal and Emery will surely feel Rogers’s pace, power and trickery could see him tear the former Manchester United player apart if shifted to the left wing.
Rogers will be keen to get off the mark against Everton
Rogers has enjoyed a meteoric rise since signing for Villa from Middlesbrough in January.
The 22-year-old went from strength to strength in the second half of last season as he grew in confidence and has started the new campaign at a whole new level.
Despite defeat, it was Rogers’ performance against Arsenal in the second game of the season that drew widespread praise, with Robbie Mustoe labelling the England under-21 international “special” on the NBC Sports Youtube channel.
The next step for Rogers is to add regular goal contributions to his dazzling displays and he will be hoping to notch his first goal or assist of the season against a struggling Everton side.
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