Many Aston Villa fans hailed the performance of Anwar El Ghazi against West Brom last night, scoring two goals in the 3-0 win at The Hawthorns and silencing a lot of his detractors.
He got on the end of a brilliantly whipped cross from Bertrand Traore to score from close range in the first five minutes and then netted a second half penalty to put the game beyond doubt. He could have bagged a hat-trick were it not for some magnificent saves from Sam Johnstone, too.
El Ghazi came in for criticism for his performance against Burnley last week but he now has three goals in as many games for the Villans.
Against West Brom, the Netherlands international played for 90 minutes, had 59 touches, won two aerial duels, completed 84.9% of his 33 passes, had eight shots with six hitting the target, whipped in eight crosses, had two successful dribbles and won two free kicks (WhoScored).
The 25-year-old has made nine appearances in all competitions this season, scoring four goals. He has struggled for consistency in the past but has been at his best in recent weeks and Villa are stronger for it.
These Villa fans on Twitter were full of praise for El Ghazi, who one supporter excitedly compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, while another more modestly claimed that he may have presented a “selection dilemma” for Dean Smith.
AEG and Traore both stepped up tonight. Nice to see those coming in taking their chances. Selection dilemma for Smith when Ross is fit. Also, I thought SJM had his best game for some time. #avfc
— Alliv Notsa (@GRtweets7) December 20, 2020
Dominant performance, big gap between the first goal and killing the game off but the result never in doubt. Great to see El Ghazi and Traore on form. #AVFC #UTV #AstonVilla
— Liam Mucklow (@imucklow90) December 20, 2020
https://twitter.com/Tricky_Villan_/status/1340903898245193729?s=20
Elghazi was superb today must give credit deserved a hatrick with that late run #avfc
— tonksy (@dicktonksy) December 20, 2020
El ghazi turns into prime cr7 at the hawthorns!! Glad he’s back on the score sheet and hopefully more to come from him ! All round top performance !#avfc
— C.K #56 (@cal_kingscott) December 20, 2020
Grealish, El Ghazi and Traore class tonight. Another clean sheet, 3 points on the road and another local Derby win. Merry Christmas villa fans! #AVFC
— Ross Buet (@rossbuet) December 20, 2020
In other news, some Aston Villa fans lauded another player after his performance against West Bromwich Albion.
