Aston Villa were dealt a blow after Lucas Digne suffered an ankle injury which forced him to withdraw from the France squad recently.
However, should the full-back find himself unavailable to feature in any of his club’s upcoming Premier League games, one man to whom Steven Gerrard could turn as a suitable replacement is Ludwig Augustinsson.
Villa signed the defender on a season-long loan deal from Sevilla in July. Since then, the 28-year-old has been an unused substitute for all of the Midlands club’s Premier League games and is still awaiting his club debut.
However, Augustinsson’s performance for Sweden in their UEFA Nations League match against Slovenia on Tuesday night should have proved to Gerrard that he could be a suitable stand-in for the injured Frenchman.
Augustinsson impresses for Sweden
Playing for the full 90 minutes in Stockholm, the left-back had 100 touches of the ball in total, completing 59 passes, one cross and three long balls (SofaScore).
Augustinsson excelled from a defensive point of view last night as he made three interceptions and one clearance and won 100% of his aerial duels (2/2), not being dribbled past by an opponent on any occasion.
This performance ultimately earned the Villa figure a solid match rating of 7/10 from SofaScore, which is higher than four other Sweden players who started the game, including Tottenham Hotspur attacker Dejan Kulusevski.
Gerrard, take note
Bearing in mind how Digne has made more blocks (16) and successful pressures (32) and has a higher combined total of tackles and interceptions (22) than any other defender at Villa, it seems as though Augustinsson has now shown he has the defensive credentials to be a reliable figure for Gerrard in the Frenchman’s absence.
With the Sweden international now showing what he’s capable of producing, this should be a big boost for the Villa boss and give him the confidence that the Scandinavian rock can do a job at the back for the Villans if needed.
