Aston Villa will take an advantage back to Villa Park in the second leg of their Europa League last 16 tie after a 1-0 win over Lille on Thursday night.
Ollie Watkins ended a run of seven matches without a goal in all competitions to secure the win for the Villans, looping his header Berke Ozer and into the back of the net from Emi Buendia's flick-on.
The England international has not been at his glittering best in front of goal this season, scoring nine goals in 40 appearances in all competitions, but he will be hoping that his goal against Lille can be the start of a strong end to the season.
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Unai Emery kept his faith in the England international, instead of going with January signing Tammy Abraham, and his faith was rewarded with the winning goal.
Some of the players selected by the Spanish head coach did not justify their inclusion in the side, though, and one of those underperformers was Jadon Sancho.
Why Aston Villa must not sign Sancho permanently
The Villans should not be exploring a deal to sign the English winger on a permanent deal at the end of his loan from Chelsea because he has not been productive enough in the final third.
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His spell at Villa Park could be best summed up by a moment in the first half of the win over Lille. Sancho had the ball in space on the right with a chance to put an early cross in, delayed the cross, and then worked a yard of space to fire a cross high and wide of every teammate waiting in the box.
Sancho was fortunate that Watkins saved the day with his brilliant header because he ended the game with zero shots on goal and 0.03 xA created from one key pass, failing with his only cross attempt.
The former Manchester United flop has now scored one goal and provided one assist in 29 appearances in all competitions for the Villans during his loan spell, which is incredibly underwhelming for an attacking player.
Sancho, therefore, has not offered enough in the final third to justify a permanent deal for Villa, when they could go into the market to find more productive alternatives.
The Aston Villa star who is becoming as ineffective as Sancho
The 25-year-old attacker is not the only Villa forward who is struggling in front of goal, though, as one of his teammates is fast becoming as ineffective as him.
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Morgan Rogers started in the number ten position for the Villans against Lille, with Buendia on the left and Sancho on the right, and delivered a frustrating display that should see Emery drop him from the XI.
The England international, who will be hoping to go to the World Cup with the Three Lions this summer, played 89 minutes without registering a goal or an assist, failing to hit a shot on target from four attempts.
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Rogers gave possession away 15 times, failing with three of his four attempted dribbles, and did not create any 'big chances' for his teammates, failing to offer much in the way of quality as a scorer or a creator.
The former Middlesbrough star also struggled to deal with the physicality of the Lille team, losing eight of his ten ground duels and both of his aerial duels, as he failed to deliver a quality performance in or out of possession.
He has now gone nine matches without providing an assist for Emery's side and has no goal contributions in any of his last six games in all competitions.
|Morgan Rogers' last 6 games|
|Opposition|Goals|Assists|
|---|
|Lille|0|0|
|Chelsea|0|0|
|Wolves|0|0|
|Leeds|0|0|
|Newcastle|0|0|
|Brighton|0|0|
Rogers is becoming as ineffective as Sancho in the final third, failing to offer enough quality as a scorer or as a creator, which is particularly disappointing because of what he is capable of.
The 23-year-old forward has scored 24 goals and assisted a further 20 in all competitions for Aston Villa since the start of the 2024/25 campaign, including two stunning goals in one game against Manchester United, which proves that the quality is there for him to be an incredibly influential player for the club.
Unfortunately, he is not at his best at this moment in time and Villa have two players, in him and Sancho, who need to step up in front of goal in the weeks and months to come.
For now, Emery must drop Rogers from the starting line-up to provide another player with an opportunity to shine, because of how long his poor run of form has gone on for.
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