Aston Villa travel to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal on Wednesday night and Steven Gerrard is expected to make changes from the side that lost 1-0 to West Ham United on Sunday. John McGinn has been short of form of late and would be at risk of losing his place, but Gerrard won’t drop the 27-year-old.
McGinn has missed just four Premier League games since the start of the 2020/21 season with Dean Smith and Gerrard playing the box-to-box midfielder regardless of his form. McGinn has been lacking technically, but he brings too much energy to be ignored.
The Scottish international underwhelmed against West Ham but still had the second-most tackles (3) and an interception to his name, so he was turning over possession more than his fellow midfielders. Gerrard only recently made McGinn his captain too, stripping Tyrone Mings of the armband, so he’ll give him time to turn things around.
But ultimately, Villa don’t have a better option in his stead. Douglas Luiz hasn’t set the place alight for 18 months and Marvelous Nakamba isn’t multi-faceted, so McGinn is arguably the best option even if he’s out of form.
In other news, Steven Gerrard could bench Tyrone Mings against Arsenal despite return
