ZHAKE
Aston Villa delved into the January transfer window to bring in the likes of Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen to bolster their ranks. They also sold striker Jhon Duran to Al-Nassr.
Unai Emery’s side have their sights set on making the top four again this season. They have had to juggle European football with their domestic duties in this campaign.
Next up for the Midlands outfit is an FA Cup clash against Preston North End at the weekend. A place in the semi-final at Wembley lies in store for the winner.
Former Premier League striker Jermain Defoe has said he isn’t surprised by Rashford’s impressive start to life with Aston Villa. Emery’s side swooped to land the attacker on loan from Manchester United earlier this winter.
He has spent his whole career to date on the books at Old Trafford. However, he fell out of favour under Ruben Amorim and was given the green light to head out the exit door on a temporary basis.
Defoe has said, as per a report by Sports Mole: “I don’t think anyone would come out and say it but I don’t know why everyone’s surprised about Rashford, because a happy Marcus Rashford and the best version of Marcus Rashford is someone that starts for England.
“I knew that he would go to Villa and do what he’s doing right now because he’s a top player, he’s not been happy for whatever reason. Maybe there’s other stuff that’s gone on, I don’t know, but even with his body language you can tell that there was other stuff going on and he wasn’t happy and you need to be happy when you’re playing football.”
Aston Villa won 3-0 at home to Club Brugge in their last outing. They now face PSG in the next round and their upcoming opponents saw off Liverpool to get through.
Speaking after their latest victory, defender Tyrone Mings said: “It’s good. Tough to put into words, because when you’re in it, it’s hard to take it in. It’s hard to appreciate the level that we’re now playing at, and the bar keeps raising.
“The expectations keep going up, the level of performance has to keep going up, and we have to keep being demanding. Championship feels a long time ago, now, but really enjoying the journey.”
Ahead of PSG, he said: “A very tough game, but we’re so excited. Every game that we play now comes with its own challenges. We’re playing in the toughest league in the world, which means that every week we have to treat teams with equal levels of respect.
“When it comes to the Champions League, we’ll go there and give a good account of ourselves. We’re trying to win over to legs, so we’ll go there and enjoy every moment, but we’ve got a lot of firepower and a lot of quality in our team as well, so I’m sure it’ll be a good game.”
Qudus Salihu
ZHAKE