Emile Heskey believes Bertrand Traore deserves praise for adding an impressive work ethic to his attacking abilities at Aston Villa, speaking exclusively to HITC.
It was like night and day.
Four weeks after the human express train that is Ben Chilwell left Traore choking on dust during a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge, the Burkina Faso international now looks like a man transformed.
Whether Traore was unable or perhaps even unwilling to do the hard yards and stop Chilwell from causing havoc down Villa’s right-hand side away to Chelsea, there has been a notable shift in the winger’s work-rate over the last month.
The £17 million forward didn’t enjoy his finest day at the office during Saturday’s fortuitous 1-0 triumph over Southampton.
But no one could question his commitment to the cause on the South Coast, with Traore contributing to a brilliant, backs-against-the-wall effort as Aston Villa survived a second-half onslaught.
“Traore has done fantastic since coming in. He’s changed actually, Traore. I see his work-rate has gone up, everything,” says former England international Heskey, who wore claret and blue between 2009 and 2012.
“It just seems that he’s changed his game a little bit and he’s doing the hard stuff now. He’s not shirking that responsibility and he’s probably buying into what Dean Smith wants him to do.
“And now we’re seeing the best of him because he looks super-fit.”
On the other flank, Matt Targett produced the latest in a long line of stellar performances at both ends of the pitch.
Against his former club, the Aston Villa left-back was in inspired form, dovetailing beautifully with Jack Grealish in the build up to Ross Barkley’s first-half winner.
And Heskey agrees with the assessment that Targett may be one of the most improved players in the Premier League this season.
“One; confidence. Two; the manager giving you confidence because he’s the one that’s pushing you. He’s got to be one of the most improved. If you looked at last season, you wouldn’t have said that he would be putting in performances like this,” Heskey adds.
“He’s been fantastic.
“You’ve got to have that ability to get up and down and Targett does have that. And Grealish frees up so much space, he’s a wonderful dribbler but he wants to come inside and that frees up all that space for Targett.”
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