Steve Bruce’s side have a lot of work to do but at least this Aston Villa’ five have started the season in decent form.
It’s been far from an ideal start to the season for Aston Villa, who have won just one of their first five Championship games in 2017/18.
However, the form of this in-form quintet provides manager Steve Bruce with the basis of a very strong selection.
Connor Hourihane
Aston Villa fans have been forced to wait to see the best of Connor Hourihane but the Republic of Ireland playmaker is finally starting to show the form that made him arguably the Championship’s best player in the first half of last season.
A hat-trick against Norwich meant Hourihane has scored four goals in just three starts this season after netting just one in 13 following his big-money move from Barnsley in January last season.
Andre Green
Reports that some of the Premier League’s big hitters have sent scouts to Villa Park in their droves should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched Andre Green in action this season. The 19-year-old winger, who has been at the club for a decade already, scored the first senior goal of a promising career with a sublime curling strike the 4-2 thrashing of Norwich.
Villa were crying out for creativity last season and Green’s pace and trickery out wide means he looks like being one of the first names on Steve Bruce’s team sheet from now on.
Keinan Davis
Like Green, Davis is an exciting, 19-year-old forward making his name in Villa’s first-team this season. The striker may still be waiting to open his account in claret and blue but his performance in that Norwich triumph, Villa’s best performance of the season to date, gave supporters plenty of reason for optimism.
Davis (below, left) combined aggression and a prodigious work ethic with no little skill, suggesting that he can lead the line in the absence of injured talisman Jonathan Kodjia.
James Chester
When John Terry rocked up at Villa Park this summer aiming to add a promotion to his five Premier League titles, few would have expected supporters to be lamenting the club’s decision to sell Nathan Baker to Bristol City.
Fortunately, Welsh international James Chester has stuck around after a decent debut season and has outperformed Terry so far in Bruce’s four-man defence. Solid and reliable, Villa would have conceded far more than seven league goals without the former Manchester United youngster at the back.
Josh Onomah
Spurs broke the mould to give Onomah the chance to go out on loan this summer and a season-long spell at Villa Park looks an excellent decision already. Onomah, who starred as England won the Under-20 World Cup this summer, has impressed in a deeper midfield role under Bruce.
He may have started slowly but the highly-rated Tottenham youngster offered a tantalising glimpse of his potential in the recent draw with Bristol City, capping a fine display with a deflected long-range equaliser.
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