Aston Villa dropped into the relegation zone after being defeated 3-1 by Southampton at the weekend. Jack Grealish scored a sublime goal but was unable to spark a comeback when the Villans were in desperate need of some points. Part of the reason that Dean Smith’s side have accumulated so few in recent weeks, one in their last five fixtures, is that their focal point up front, Wesley, has struggled to find his shooting boots.
He has now failed to score in his previous ten Premier League appearances for Aston Villa after he bagged a brace and an assist in the 5-1 demolishing of fellow promoted side Norwich City. The £22m record signing has been through a lot to get to the Premier League, and he can make it past this baron spell, but it will have no doubt knocked his confidence, and Smith will be keen to get his main man up front firing again soon.
It is not like his teammates aren’t creating chances for him; Grealish was sensational at the weekend in the defeat to the Saints. The Englishman created seven key passes for teammates, but nobody was able to find the back of the net from any of those opportunities. Villa cannot keep relying on their top scorer to get the goals, and that is where Wesley comes in.
The last time the Brazilian scored in the Premier League was against Norwich City, and that is who Aston Villa welcome to Villa Park on Boxing day. The Canaries have the joint-worst defensive record in the Premier League with Southampton, with both sides having conceded 37 goals in 18 fixtures. That is an average of conceding over two goals per game, and it will be the perfect opportunity for Wesley to find the back of the net again.
At the very least the Villa talisman needs to start bringing his colleagues into games, so far this season he has just one assist to go with his five goals. With Villa on a diabolical run of Wesley could be the man to get them firing again and climbing the table, Boxing day will be his best opportunity to do so.
