Although Aston Villa were held to a goalless draw against Burnley despite having 27 shots, they managed to keep their sixth league clean sheet of the season, chiefly thanks to the efforts of centre-back duo Kortney Hause and Tyrone Mings among others.
The former was making his first Premier League start of the campaign after a knee injury but didn’t show any signs of rustiness. Against Burnley, Hause played for 90 minutes, had 43 touches, won nine aerial duels, completed 65.6% of his 32 passes, had one shot, made one interception, made five clearances and won one freekick (WhoScored).
The Midlands outfit have shut out more Premier League clubs than anyone else in 2020/21 and boast the second-best defensive record in the Premier League with just 13 goals conceded.
Villa have now kept clean sheets against Sheffield United, Fulham, Leicester City, Arsenal, Wolves and Burnley, while only Tottenham and Manchester City have conceded fewer goals (12 each).
These Villans on Twitter saluted the “class” performance from Hause on his return to the side:
Thought Mings had a good game tonight. Hause is very solid in the air, so was probably a decent addition against a tall and aerial Burnley side. Definitely missing Barkley for the extra creativity/transition. Not too impressed by Traore so far, needs to prove himself. #avfc
— Hannah (@hannahgowen_) December 17, 2020
Respect to Hause, Elmo and Nakamba, solid performance considering they haven’t played a full 90 in ages #AVFC
— ALLAVFC (@AllAVFC_) December 18, 2020
The result was a disappointment last night, as was the West Ham one. But the performance in both matches was a massive plus. Thought Hause was excellent last night considering it was his first Start. Traore & Marvelous both did well. Onwards and upwards #utv #AVFC
— Nic Steveholls 🍍 (@stevie_nicholls) December 18, 2020
https://twitter.com/holte_ender1966/status/1339834899872829441?s=20
Even though the game was a draw, I was very impressed with Hause, Nakamba and Elmo. El Ghazi was good he just needs to work on his finishing. #AVFC
— Callum (@Callumvilla69) December 17, 2020
Watkins is a player. He had little service tonight. Traore might be a player, needs time to adapt. Hause did well tonight. El ghazi needs to learn to shoot, like Traore and Trez. Overall, lots of positives, just didn't have shooting boots on #avfc
— VillaBone (@villabone) December 17, 2020
I thought Hause was outstanding tbh. Unlucky not to cap his return with a goal #avfc
— Gary Swain (@gazswain) December 17, 2020
Thought Hause was excellent again. For the money we spent on him can’t remember him letting us down very often and never moans when not playing u wouldn’t think it though with some of the comments at start of game. #avfc
— Petebull99 (@pete_bully) December 17, 2020
Big shout out to Hause tonight. Could have been rusty after not playing much football but he was class! Hope to see him again this season. #AVFC
— Steve K (@SteveK199) December 17, 2020
Hause hadn’t made an appearance in any competition since October but slotted straight in at centre-back and made a difference. Bjorn Engels and Ezri Konsa may now have a task on their hands to get playing time.
In other news, many Aston Villa fans were ‘less than impressed’ with one man’s performance against Burnley
