Taking a closer look at the Aston Villa midfielder’s latest performance.
Aston Villa have plenty of new faces in their squad this season but one of their standout performers to date is a player who has been at the club since 2012 – Ashley Westwood.
The midfielder arrived at Villa Park from Crewe Alexandra, the latest in a long line of impressive academy graduates, and on Saturday against Crystal Palace he showed just how important he is to this Villa side.
The 25-year-old does not often get the credit he deserves from neutrals and pundits, and while he could not prevent his side from losing 2-1 at Selhurst Park he put in a wonderful shift.
| Passing Accuracy | Effective Clearances | Key Passes | Dispossessed | Ball Recoveries | Duels Won | Interceptions Won | Mins Played | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashley Westwood | 96% | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 90 |
With a 96 per cent passing accuracy the Villa midfielder proved just what a fine distributor of the ball he is, while he was not dispossessed all afternoon.
Westwood recovered the ball on four occasions, made one effective clearance, four duels and three interceptions, while he played a very impressive five key passes to set up goal-scoring chances for a teammate.
In short he did everything you can ask of a midfielder except score himself and Villa manager Tim Sherwood will be all too aware of just how vital Westwood is in this campaign despite the presence of his more illustrious teammates.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
