Aston Villa face their final game of the season against Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon, seeing Unai Emery urged to do one thing to redeem himself from criticism.
Fortunately, Aston Villa can walk into their final game of the 2023/24 season with relaxed shoulders, as the Villans secured a top-four finish earlier this week.
Unai Emery’s side will play in the Champions League next campaign in what has been a remarkable effort from the squad this term, with the aim still there to end the footballing calendar on a high.
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Villa will travel to Selhurst Park on the final day to face Oliver Glasner’s in-form Crystal Palace side, who will be tough to crack being unbeaten in the previous six Premier League games.
While the desire to win will be there, Emery has now been urged to explore another area of his management at Villa, with nothing to play for in the final 90 minutes of the season.
Unai Emery criticised for not playing academy talents this season at Aston Villa
It would be extremely difficult to identify an area of criticism in Emery’s first full season at Villa Park, taking the side he inherited from Steven Gerrard in 2022 to the Champions League.
That being said, there has been a call for the Spaniard to hand more opportunities to young players throughout the campaign, as echoed by The Athletic journalist Jacob Tanswell when speaking on the 1874 podcast.
“I think for him [Emery], he’s already focused on next season, I think it would be a good opportunity to blood some young players.
“The only criticism you can level at Emery is that he’s not really blooded any academy players or given them proper game time so, these guys who have been on the bench for a while, I’d really like to see them get an opportunity.”
With points not needed on the final day, there could be the opportunity for the manager to unleash some rarely-seen talents who are currently around the first team, in what will be the perfect test of Premier League action.
Crystal Palace clash could be a good opportunity for Unai Emery to assess academy talent
Having dropped two points from their previous six games in the Premier League, Crystal Palace will be a difficult team to beat even with a fully fit squad however, the game could also pose the ideal test for young players to understand the demands of the top flight.
For this reason, Emery could be tempted to hand some of his youngsters a start or a cameo at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon.
READ MORE: Three Aston Villa academy starlets who Emery could unleash against Crystal Palace
With Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey and Morgan Rogers missing from midfield due to injury, 20-year-old Tim Iroegbunam could be in with a chance of starting, having played sporadically for Villa this term.
Another strong argument could be made for Kaine Kesler-Hayden following the news of Matty Cash’s absence, the right-back was recalled from loan in January and will be eager to secure Premier League minutes this afternoon.
It’s poised to be an interesting affair on the final day in South London, with Emery’s side already in party mode having secured their wildest dreams of returning to the Champions League.
The post 'The only criticism': Journalist warns Emery of one problem he must fix at Aston Villa ahead of Palace appeared first on Aston Villa News.
