By 
Lamplight returns for Premier League football which saw Aston Villa lose controversially against Crystal Palace.
Follow the writer on Twitter: @findfoy
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All stats are taken from Wyscout.com – the most used technology in the world for scouting, match and performance analysis.
Lamplight returns this week with the return of Premier League football for Aston Villa after their demolition of Crewe Alexandra in the Carabao Cup.
This week, Aston Villa lost controversially after a Henri Lansbury goal was disallowed by Kevin Friend after what some consider to be a limp performance at Selhurst Park.
But what do the stats say? Does someone that you think had an awful game actually stand out from the rest of the Pride? Lamplight is here to help you find that out – as we look at the statistical positives and negatives in each player’s time on the pitch.
Tom Heaton
Aston Villa’s goalkeeper made some spellbinding saves to keep Aston Villa in with a shout of points throughout the 90.
Statistical Positive: Heaton faced six shots from Crystal Palace, and saved five of them – two of which were from Palace captain Luka Milivojevic’s ranged efforts. The score could have been much different without him.
Statistical Negative: Tom Heaton lost the ball three times with lofted passes in the 42nd, 48th and 61st minutes, effectively recycling possession for the home side.
Frédéric Guilbert
Frédéric Guilbert started his second successive right-back game in the Premier League against Crystal Palace.
Statistical Positive: Guilbert was successful in 60% of his aerial duels and almost 60% of his general defensive duels.
Statistical Negative: Aston Villa’s French fullback lost the ball 16 times during the game, and seven of these losses came within Aston Villa’s own half.
Björn Engels
Björn Engels lauded himself when signing as a ball-playing defender, and that’s exactly what he is.
Statistical Positive: Björn managed to notch up a pass accuracy of 87% across the full ninety minutes, and only just under 50% of his long pass attempts didn’t find a Villa man.
Statistical Negative: Defensively, Engels wasn’t too involved. Considering the pressure of Crystal Palace, he was only involved in three defensive duels, and only one of these were won.
Tyrone Mings
Tyrone Mings continued to top the charts defensively as he now gears up to potentially make his England debut.
Statistical Positive: As it seems after every game, Tyrone was the top player in terms of interceptions and clearances. He managed 10 interceptions against Palace, and six clearances (although, one was a poor clearance).
Statistical Negative: This is a pretty loose negative, as Tyrone generally had another exceptional game. The defender only won 40% of his aerial duels despite his height, and lost out in a few of these in dangerous positions against Kouyaté.
Neil Taylor
Neil Taylor continues to impress defensively for Aston Villa – but lacks going forward. Something that is consistently an issue down the left, it seems.
Statistical Positive: Defensively, Neil Taylor was right there. He made five interceptions and five clearances, placing as the second most influential defender in the Aston Villa defensive line-up. Not bad, considering he was facing Zaha all game.
Statistical Negative: In Aston Villa’s style of play, the fullbacks often maraud forward and throw crosses into the box. Neil Taylor only managed two crosses throughout the 90 and neither of them found an Aston Villa man.
Douglas Luiz (Subbed, 71′)
Douglas Luiz had a decent game despite being substituted for Conor Hourihane.
Statistical Positive: In Douglas Luiz’s role, he needs to have pinpoint accuracy in his passing, and he managed that with a 92% pass accuracy. He also managed three interceptions. All of his passes forward were accurate, as were all of his passes backwards.
Statistical Negative: Despite his three interceptions, Douglas Luiz was a little weak in his defensive duels and only came away with the ball three out of nine times.
John McGinn
John McGinn almost seems like the complete midfielder at times, pairing attacking and defensive duties equally.
Statistical Positive: John McGinn was almost successful 70% of the time with his forward dribbles – and who can forget the emphatic shoulder roll towards the end of the game? He also managed to make five interceptions.
Statistical Negative: McGinn struggled in regards to his passing again – but this is because Aston Villa didn’t have much of the ball. He made 24 passes, 79% of which were accurate.
Jack Grealish (C)
Jack Grealish was an exceptional outlet in midfield – although this might not have been visible at times. He would have walked away with an assist too, if it wasn’t for Kevin Friend.
Statistical Positive: 90% of Jack’s passes were accurate and over half of his dribbles were successful. You’d have been able to heighten that half if Henri Lansbury’s goal would have stood and Jack wasn’t booked for a ‘dive’.
Statistical Negative: Grealish played three balls into the box, none of which were accurate.
Trézéguet (Red Card, 55′)
Trézéguet picked up Aston Villa’s first red card of the season, something that could have fallen to any one of the side’s players that were yellow carded in the first half.
Statistical Positive: At times, Trez looked somewhat of a live wire on the left and cut inside on a number of occasions. However, at a deeper look, he was a little poor. His positive is that he took three shots on goal, with one registering as hitting the target.
Statistical Positive: This could be simply put as he committed three fouls that lead to his dismissal. However, we’ll move away from that. The Egyptian winger was weak on the ball and only won 40% of his 15 attempted duels.
Jota (Subbed, 60′)
Jota was having a poor game too, and was replaced by Keinan Davis in the 60th minute.
Statistical Positive: Jota made two interceptions and three clearances (although two of these were very skewed). Remember, he’s a winger.
Statistical Negative: There’s a lot to potentially concentrate on here – as nothing came off for the Spaniard. He lost the ball 10 times, had little to no offensive input with no successful dribbles and only one successful offensive duel.
Wesley (Subbed, 85′)
Wesley was stranded up top with little to no influence from his wingers, but still put in a decent shift.
Statistical Positive: We mentioned in the AFC Bournemouth Lamplight that when Wesley isn’t getting on the ball much, he needs to make sure what he does do is accurate. He did exactly that. Despite only making 12 passes, all of them found their man.
Statistical Negative: For a player of Wesley’s stature, he needs to be stronger. In defensive duels, he did well – but offensive duels were his downfall as he was only successful in them 11% of the time.
Substitutes:
Keinan Davis (Subbed on, 60′)
Keinan impressed despite being brought on whilst Aston Villa were down a man due to Trézéguet’s dismissal.
Statistical Positive: Keinan added a different dynamic to the team. He only missed one pass, (although only made seven in his time on the pitch), was successful in both of his attempted dribbles, and won nearly 50% of his duels.
Statistical Negative: This is unfair on Keinan due to the side being under the cosh – but the forward registered no attempts on goal in his 38 minute appearance.
Conor Hourihane (Subbed on, 71′)
The Irishman replaced Douglas Luiz with just under 20 minutes remaining.
Statistical Positive: Hourihane continued the strong passing left behind by Douglas Luiz, registering a 87% accuracy in his 27 minutes of play.
Statistical Negative: Dean Smith did however, sacrifice some defensive stability with Hourihane on the field. The midfielder attempted two duels, one offensive and one defensive, and neither were successful.
Henri Lansbury (Subbed on, 85′)
It would be unfair to take a look at Henri’s stats with his limited time on the field. However, he would have walked away with Aston Villa’s only goal of the game.
