Orjan Nyland had arguably his best-ever game for Aston Villa last night.
Dean Smith has revealed that he wouldn’t have played Pepe Reina in Aston Villa’s League Cup win on Tuesday, even if he was fit.
The West Midlands club beat Leicester City 2-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate to move into the final of the League Cup.
Much of Aston Villa’s victory is owed to goalkeeper Orjan Nyland, who was simply stunning against the Foxes.
Nyland denied James Maddison with two fine saves inside 10 minutes, before pulling off an arguably better one to deny Youri Tielemans later in the game.
The former Liverpool keeper joined Aston Villa earlier this month after an injury to Tom Heaton, though he sat out last night’s win with a calf problem.
Reina has impressed since returning to the Premier League, but Smith says that Nyland – who also excelled in the first leg – was always his pick to start the win over Brendan Rodgers’s side, regardless of whether the Spaniard was fit.
He told the club’s official website: “Pepe’s come in and done really well for us. He’s not trained since the Watford game due to a tight calf. Orjan was always in to play this game and he showed me what he’s about.”
It does make you wonder why Reina was even signed by Aston Villa if Nyland was capable of these heroics but, to be fair, Smith couldn’t take that chance.
Nyland is hardly an established and proven goalkeeper, having struggled to make the matchday squad during the second half of last season when Jed Steer’s back-up was Lovre Kalinic, but he’s certainly proving himself now and the more he does, the more you wonder whether Reina will get his spot back.
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