Will Aston Villa woes in front of goal continue?

On Sunday, at the fifth attempt, the Villans did manage to score a Premier League goal for the very first time this season, thanks to this Matty Cash rocket at the Stadium of Light.

However, it did not help the Claret and Blue Army claim a maiden win of the season, with Sunderland equalising soon after, despite the fact the Black Cats played for around an hour with only ten men.

Next up, Unai Emery’s team will commence their Europa League campaign, welcoming Coppa Italia winners Bologna to Villa Park, hoping for a repeat of the 2-0 victory they enjoyed against the Rossoblù in the Champions League 11 months ago.

To do this, Villa will have to unearth a way to score goals, having managed only two in six fixtures across all competitions so far, which is why Emery should unleash his summer signing who is Bernardo Silva-esque.

Morgan Rogers' ongoing struggles

Last season was very much Morgan Rogers’ breakout campaign, scoring a whopping 14 goals and registering 16 assists across all competitions.

As recognition, he was named PFA Young Player of the Year, only the fifth Villa player to win the award, after Andy Gray (1977), Gray Shaw (1981), Ashley Young (2009) and James Milner (2010).

However, this time round, Rogers is yet to register either a goal or an assist in six appearances, seemingly struggling for confidence.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Rogers himself admitted “I might have been a surprise package last year, but now people know about me and they know about my game” adding, “they try to stop me…it’s been difficult”.

Given Villa’s ongoing struggles in front of goal, it is surely worth Emery trying something different when Bologna visit Birmingham on Thursday, so should he make a bold change instead?.

Who Unai Emery should start instead of Morgan Rogers

After a summer of frustrations due to PSR restrains, Aston Villa’s deadline day trolley dash saw them pick up Victor Lindelöf, Jadon Sancho and, most notably, Harvey Elliott.

The latter arrived from Liverpool initially on loan, but with a £35m option to buy, having starred at the under-21 European Championships, scoring five goals as England retained their title in Slovakia, named player of the tournament.

At the time of his Fulham debut against Wolves in May 2019, Elliott became the youngest player in Premier League history, subsequently spending six years at Liverpool without ever being a first-team regular, underlined by the fact that 78 of his 149 appearances for the Reds came as a substitute.

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Still only 22 years old, he has moved to Villa aiming to become a first team regular, yet to start a league match in claret and blue, but that fact will surely soon change.

Well, Elliott did have an immediate impact at his new club, becoming the first Villan to score a goal this season, breaking the deadlock against Brentford in the EFL Cup last Tuesday, as they were ousted on penalties in West London.

His statistics from this summer’s aforementioned under-21 Euros underline Elliott’s potential.

Goals

5

2nd

Shots

20

1st

Shots on target

7

2nd

Big chances missed

3

2nd

Key passes

10

7th

Total passes

230

5th**

Average SofaScore rating

7.53

1st*

*minimum 5 appearances; **among midfielders only.

As the table notes, Elliott was key to England as an attacking force during the summer, with only Newcastle’s new signing Nick Woltemade​​​​​​​ scoring more goals, while only Mathys Tel of Tottenham registered more shots on target, both of whom are strikers.

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said that the Englishman is “like a Bernardo [Silva]”, given his ability to “control the game from a wide area”, praising his “technical ability”, while former Liverpool striker Neil Mellor labelled him a “special young talent”.

Given Aston Villa’s lack of goal threat so far, they simply need to make room for Elliott in their lineup, ideally as a central figure, which could force Rogers onto the bench.

Their visitors on Thursday Bologna have lost both away matches so far this season, beaten 1-0 by both Roma and AC Milan in Serie A, while the Rossoblù have not won on English soil since beating West Bromwich Albion in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 58 years ago.

Thus, this is a match Europa League king Emery should be looking to win, but, stating the obvious, his team will need to score a goal to achieve this, and adding Elliott to his starting lineup may be his best hope of achieving this.