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Aston Villa have ensured their place as genuine challengers for the Premier League title with an excellent first-half display against Arsenal on Saturday 9 December.
Unai Emery’s side headed into the break 1-0 up at Villa Park thanks to John McGinn’s excellent early goal after a moment of magic from Leon Bailey, but Villa could well have found themselves behind even earlier after Bukayo Saka spurned an early effort.
The England international drifted off of Lucas Digne as Gabriel Martinelli’s cross flew into the penalty area, and Jamie Carragher was quick to criticise the Frenchman for switching off out of possession, dubbing him a “lucky boy”.
Speaking on Sky Sports (9 December, 17:35) he said: “He’s a lucky boy Lucas Digne, wide man to wide man. Just keeping an eye on Lucas Digne, he just switches off and in the form Saka’s in, even though he’s on his weaker foot you’re expecting that to be 1-0 to Arsenal.
“You just switch off for a second that’s the quality that we’ve got on this pitch and you just can’t afford to do that at either end.”
On top of his lapse in concentration, the 30-year-old defender was given a torrid time by Saka whenever the Arsenal winger advanced down the right wing, only managing to win 50 per cent of the duels he entered and not even attempting a single tackle [Fotmob].
This isn’t the only time this season that Digne has struggled to make an impact in defence. When compared to the Premier League’s fullbacks this season, he places in the bottom 11 per cent for tackles won per 90 minutes [Fbref].
When he does enter a duel, he typically comes out on top, but he only challenges dribblers on average 1.84 times a match. That is less the 64 per cent of his peers in the Premier League and is not when Emery needs when trying to thwart Saka out wide.
The Frenchman rarely manages to cut out passes either, sitting in the 38th percentile of his positional peers for passes blocked per match and 95 per cent of fullbacks block more shots than the 30-year-old a game.
Despite his lack of involvement in defence, Digne did manage to concede a foul as he mistimed a challenge. The Frenchman’s afternoon wasn’t much better in possession where he only had 14 touches of the ball, failing to find a teammate with any of his attempted crosses.
With Arsenal having a majority of possession, the 30-year-old only attempted six passes in the half, finding a teammate with only 71 per cent of his efforts as he gave away possession three times.
Digne even took aim on David Raya’s goal himself, forcing Bailey and Douglas Luiz away from a free-kick in an excellent position only to see his effort fly into the wall. While it was a long way out and only held an xG of 0.05, you’d imagine either of the other two players would have done more with the opportunity.
If Aston Villa want to maintain their lead and stop Saka from getting any more opportunities as a result of defenders switching off, Emery should hook Digne and introduce Alex Moreno to sure things up at left-back for the second half.
