Gabriel Agbonlahor says Bailey should replace Buendia against Wolves

Aston Villa travel to Molineux to face Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, April 2 and are likely to make changes after suffering consecutive Premier League defeats.

Steven Gerrard had Emiliano Buendia and Phillipe Coutinho operating behind Ollie Watkins as roaming No.10s in Villa’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal, but the duo didn’t see a lot of the ball and thus didn’t make an impact.

Gabriel Agbonlahor was critical of Buendia and Coutinho but praised Leon Bailey’s contribution from the bench. He believes the 24-year-old deserves to start against Wolves in place of the former, telling Football Insider: “Arsenal dealt with (Villa’s) number 10s very easily.

“They weren’t getting on the ball, they weren’t creating space for each other, they weren’t running in behind to help Watkins. Buendia didn’t do anything and Coutinho was very poor.

“It was inevitable Buendia was going to be brought off. Fair play to Gerrard, he brought on Leon Bailey who looked very bright. If I’m Bailey, I’m looking to try and prove to the manager next game.”

Bailey has featured in five of Villa’s last seven league games, but he’s not started any of them as he’s recently recovered from a thigh injury. The Jamaican international has amassed 91 minutes of football from a possible 630 since mid-February, so it remains to be seen if he’s fit enough to start on Saturday.

Fans are yet to see the best of Bailey since his summer move from Bayer Leverkusen. He’s scored one goal and made two assists from 14 appearances, suffering multiple injuries which has ruined any chance of consistency. Buendia hasn’t scored since January and has just one assist in more two months, so maybe it’s time for a change.

In other news, Aston Villa exit hasn’t gone to plan for Wesley