Aston Villa's midfield dilemma: Will Amadou Onana be fit? Should Victor Lindelof stand in?

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Onana’s checkered fitness record, however, does suggest pumping the brakes. He is a player who rarely recovers ahead of time and on the occasion he did come back early, with manager Unai Emery insisting his players should be ready to “play through the pain”, Onana returned for the first leg against Forest. A knee issue that the Belgian midfielder had been managing in recent months had worsened in the days before the tie, meaning his inclusion was somewhat premature. As (mis)fortune would have it, the 24-year-old reported a complaint in the first half, though it was his calf and not his knee. He was substituted early in the second half and would “obviously not”, as Emery said, play in the second leg. Emery provided a further update on Onana following Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Burnley. “We are going to be working with (Victor) Lindelof in this position; we are working hard with (Lamare) Bogarde in this position,” he said. “We do not have (Boubacar) Kamara, who is is very important for us. But I am positive with the players we have. In case someone is not available, we will find solutions, as we have always.” Revealingly, Emery did not namecheck Douglas Luiz in the list of potential replacements for Onana. Further clues may be offered in how Emery configures his midfield on Friday, when Liverpool visit Villa Park. An ‘Emery midfielder’ falls into two distinct categories. They are either viewed as a passer or a shielder. Onana, curiously, is the most well-rounded Villa midfielder straddling both groupings. His athletic frame means he can cover defensive spaces efficiently and, should Emery wish, have the power and length of stride to run into more advanced areas. His role, therefore, is dependent on the identity of his partner. In his absence, Lindelof or Bogarde are viewed as the most complementary midfield partners to Youri Tielemans, who is certain to start the Europa League final. Douglas Luiz, out of favour and unable to regain the level of physical form he enjoyed before initially leaving Villa in July 2024, is the closest stylistically to Tielemans. They both have excellent vision when posed against a mid-to-low block — they often are the only players who find Ollie Watkins’ spin in the left channel — yet lack athleticism. Ross Barkley falls into a similar category, though he has not been included in Villa’s Europa League squad. Instead, it is Bogarde and Lindelof who fall firmly in the shielder category, owing to their defensively-minded instincts and versatility. Both have played right-back and centre-back under Emery. Centre-half is Lindelof’s most familiar position. Tielemans is the passer in the midfield pivot, so Emery, without Onana, requires a shielder. This remit necessitates staying behind the ball in the attacking half and dropping deep, usually into a back three, during certain phases of Villa’s build-up. Instinctively, whoever fulfils the role has to be effective in anticipating turnovers to stop counter-attacks. Kamara is among Europe’s best defensive midfielders in this facet alone. Having suffered a tear of the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his left knee in January, the 26-year-old boasts the best points-per-game record of any Premier League player this season (2.33). Sources close to the player, speaking on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to do so, state he will return in the summer. Several close observers at Villa connected to others in the dressing room believe he is Emery’s best and most important player.  His injury, sustained away at Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the FA Cup, leaves a lingering sense of remorse. At the time, Villa were third in the league, level on points with Manchester City and six behind Arsenal. In the 15 league matches he has missed since, Villa have taken just 16 points, which puts them 14th in the form table. In terms of maintaining and enhancing Emery’s insistence on “structure”, Kamara remains critical. Whoever replaces his specific role cannot replicate him exactly, yet is still instrumental in sustaining the team’s foundation.  Without Kamara and Onana, Bogarde was regarded as the next in line. His characteristics were most comparable and, despite moonlighting at right-back and centre-back, Emery viewed his best position as defensive midfield, owing to his safety in possession and his ability to take good covering positions.  Questions seemed to surface in Emery’s mind before the second leg against Forest. Bogarde had become less reliable and, directly linked, more wayward with the ball. He was routinely caught taking too many touches and was losing duels. That sentiment was reinforced by his performance in the 2-1 defeat against Tottenham, sandwiched between the semi-final legs, when Villa were cut apart alarmingly through midfield. As a result, the idea of Lindelof featuring in midfield increasingly grew in appeal. Lindelof had moonlighted in the position during substitute cameos but never from the outset. Team-mates started to note Emery preparing to use Lindelof in midfield in preparation for Forest. Patterns of play developed, including the Sweden international dropping into right centre-back during deep build-up phases, pushing right-back Matty Cash further upfield and John McGinn inside the right half-space. “Lindelof is a fantastic guy, a fantastic professional,” said Emery post-match. “He has experience. It was not necessary to explain a lot to him. I decided, after analysing everything deeply, to play with him. My expectation about his performance was what I expected.” The 31-year-old’s game awareness and anticipation are his remarkable attributes, as underlined against Forest. Here, Lindelof checks the defensive situation behind him, noting Ezri Konsa is about to step out of defence to apply pressure to Igor Jesus. Aware of the imminent threat, Lindelof takes up a covering position in the space Konsa vacated. He consequently shuts down the space, stopping Forest from putting a ball over Konsa’s head and into the gap. Lindelof continued in midfield against Burnley. Villa dominated possession and could play at a more comfortable, slower pace, where the onus was on build-up patterns rather than the blood-and-guts, all-out energy required on Thursday night. An overlooked aspect of Lindelof, the midfielder, is his aerial presence. He can screen his centre-backs when fighting for aerial duels against physical strikers, which Forest had with Chris Wood and Burnley through Zian Flemming. Looking ahead to Freiburg, Lindelof’s inclusion may help against their 6ft 3in striker, Igor Matanovic. At Turf Moor, Lindelof would again drop into a right centre-back position, with Cash pushing on and McGinn drifting inside. Interestingly, when Lindelof stepped away from Burnley’s mid-block, he would sometimes station himself in the middle of a back three, with McGinn, in essence, taking his place in midfield. Morgan Rogers, who had been holding width from the left, would tuck inside to ensure Villa, as is Emery’s way, always had two No 10s between the lines. It may have seemed outlandish at the start of the campaign, or even a few weeks ago, but there is a growing possibility that Lindelof is Emery’s best candidate to start in central midfield in the Europa League final, should Onana not make it.  Emery’s approach in his previous five Europa League finals indicates a safety-first mindset initially, before opening up in the second half, all depending on the game’s ebb and flow. In this respect, Lindelof or Bogarde would be the solution and should Villa need an equaliser against a deep Freiburg defence, he may lean on Douglas Luiz. Following Emery’s fourth Europa League final, a 3-1 victory against Liverpool with Sevilla, he described the midfield as “the key area” as to how his side triumphed. A similar notion may be shared this time, so deciding on who starts alongside Tielemans will be one of the decisive subplots in Villa’s quest for a European trophy. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms