Aston Villa suffered their fourth defeat of the season on Wednesday night, losing 2-1 to Premier League leaders Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Although Villa got on the scoresheet, they lacked attacking threat over the 90 minutes and Emiliano Buendia was one of many players to blame.
The 25-year-old replaced Philippe Coutinho in the starting lineup but didn’t justify the decision by Steven Gerrard. Buendia didn’t make an impact in North London and was hooked in the second half as a result. Whether he keeps his place against Manchester City on Saturday remains to be seen.
Chris Deeley of 90min gave Buendia a player rating of 4/10 and said he was virtually non-existent until his substitution. Deeley was critical of the playmaker’s poor contribution, so Gerrard has a difficult decision to make ahead of the City clash.
Against Arsenal, Buendia played for 72 minutes, had 40 touches, won two aerial duels, completed 79.3% of his 29 passes, failed to create a chance, had two shots with 50% hitting the target, made two tackles, whipped in one cross which failed to find a teammate, had one clearance, gave away one foul and failed to make a successful dribble.
