Jeff Stelling has named the Aston Villa player he was not convinced about before his ‘sensational’ performance against Arsenal on Sunday.
Unai Emery’s men deserve all of the plaudits coming their way right now. Villa are the only team to beat an Arsenal side in the Premier League in 2024 which has also faced the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City.
And they earned the victory. In fact, it was hard to pick out a man of the match.
Gary Neville was amazed by the performance of Diego Carlos. Meanwhile, Youri Tielemans was so influential in the middle of the park. And Ollie Watkins produced a deft finish to double the visitors’ lead to further stun the Emirates.
But it was another member of the Villa side who managed to impress Jeff Stelling.
Jeff Stelling suggests Aston Villa player proved him wrong against Arsenal
Speaking on talkSPORT (broadcast on 15/4; 9:21), Stelling suggested that Nicolo Zaniolo proved him wrong with his display.
“Villa were just fantastic. Diego Carlos was brilliant. I thought Tielemans was fantastic as well. Somebody I hadn’t rated really, but I thought was brilliant yesterday was Zaniolo as well. I thought he was absolutely sensational. But the whole Villa team, marvellous,” he said.
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You can definitely understand why Stelling had his doubts about Zaniolo. The Italian has shown flashes of his brilliance at times through the campaign. But he has struggled to break out from the periphery of the Villa squad during his time in the Premier League.
He has only scored two goals in the top-flight this season. But clearly, he has the talent to do a lot more.
That was obvious against Arsenal. Ben White has been one of the best right-backs in the Premier League this season. But Zaniolo gave him a torrid time.
Some of his touches were outstanding. He held the ball up extremely well, and had a physical presence to compete with White.
And he did enough during his time on the pitch to help Villa wrestle the momentum off of the Gunners during the second-half.
His challenge now will be to replicate those performances in what remains of the campaign.
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