Aston Villa are facing a crucial final few weeks of their season as the Villans look to book their place in a European final and next season’s Champions League.
It won’t be easy for Unai Emery’s side as they face two legs against Olympiacos and Premier League matches against Liverpool, Brighton and Crystal Palace before the season is up with so much still to play for.
Injuries have impacted the Villa boss this season, with several key players being ruled out for extended periods of the season, but Emery could be handed a boost before the end of the season after a new update emerged surrounding Nicolo Zaniolo.
As reported by Birmingham Live on Tuesday (30 April) the Italian midfielder is back running in training following his injury against Lille in the Europa Conference League, but it remains to be seen when he will return to first-team action.
Will Nicolo Zaniolo be fit to play for Aston Villa against Olympiacos?
Zaniolo had a slow start to the season, but the 24-year-old really started to shine before his injury, particularly in the win over Arsenal in the Premier League where he completed 70 per cent of his passes and created one scoring chance, according to Fotmob.
It was his work out of possession which stole the majority of the plaudits however as the Galatasary loanee entered a whopping 15 duels both in the air and on the ground, winning 100 per cent of his aerial battles.
A lot of Zaniolo’s best performances in an Aston Villa shirt this season have come in Europe. In a 1-1 draw with Zrinksji Mostar, he completed 87 per cent of his passes and fashioned two scoring chances for his teammates.
The 24-year-old also only scored Villa’s only goal in the match as he took three shots on goal to finish the game with an xG of 0.74. Only one of his four efforts on goal failed to test Marko Maric between the posts.
Defensively, the midfielder once again worked incredibly hard, winning 100 per cent of his attempted tackles and managing an impressive five ball recoveries all while entering 12 duels.
When compared to his positional peers in the Europa Conference League this term, Zaniolo places in the 96th percentile for non-penalty xG produced per 90 minutes with an average of 0.3, according to Fbref.
Zaniolo also places in the top five per cent of midfielders in the competition when it comes to shots taken per game and the top one per cent for shots on target.
On top of that, the Galatasaray loanee sits in the top 20 per cent in terms of assists registered per 90 minutes. In the Conference League, he has proven to be really effective, particularly in the final third.
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