Dean Smith will be hoping Aston Villa can secure nine wins on the bounce when they travel to Bolton on Friday afternoon.
BBC pundit Garry Thompson has shared that former Aston Villa scout Ian Atkins lauded the qualities of summer signing Anwar El Ghazi.
In September, as reported by the Telegraph, Villa sacked Atkins as European scout and he would have more than likely played a part in bringing El Ghazi to the club from Lille prior to his departure.
El Ghazi is currently on a season-long loan from the Ligue 1 club and he has impressed the Villa Park faithful in recent weeks with his performances.
Speaking to BBC Radio West Midlands Football Phone-in, former Villa striker Thompson was in awe of what El Ghazi has been doing on the pitch recently.
“It makes sense [to get him signed up],” Thompson told BBC Radio WM. “I spoke to Ian Atkins about him when he first came and he said ‘the kids got a trick, he can get out of tight areas’, which he showed in the West Brom game [at the Hawthorns].
“He’s a winger isn’t he, so he’s hot and cold at times. But during the last few games, he’s put together decent performances and on Saturday he was Man of the Match. Strong, powerful and taking people on. Last week as well, he was the outlet. He looks like he has a goal in him.”
Over the weekend, El Ghazi helped Dean Smith’s side beat promotion rivals Bristol City 2-1 as he set-up Conor Hourihane for the decisive goal of the match.
The Dutchman only registered one assist during the game, but truthfully, he should have had more to his name had his teammates been more clinical and had the opposition goalkeeper not been in such fine form.
Nonetheless, during his time at the club, El Ghazi has played 28 league games for his side, scoring five goals and supplying his teammates with the same amount of assists [transfermarkt].
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