Preston North End stifle Aston Villa’s dominance

You’ve heard it here before: Aston Villa blew a 2-0 home halftime lead to Preston North End. Jordan Hugill’s double ensured points were shared on the afternoon.

Aston Villa came out firing on all cylinders Saturday afternoon. André Green should have made it 1-0 to the good guys in the opening five minutes before his open header went wayward.

Just a short while later, Jack Grealish played in a blazing Gabby Agbonlahor – whose controlling chest bounce went straight into Chris Maxwell’s palms.

The rest was history: Albert Adomah recorded a brace in the first half & Preston’s Jordan Hugill recorded a brace in the second. Points were disappointingly shared on the evening.

Without further ado, Aston Villa player grades:

Not at fault on either goal, but Johnstone was caught flat footed on both occurrences. Johnstone’s distribution knows only one move – murdering the ball down the pitch.

Very, very heavily involved on the afternoon. Hutton was the club’s leading ball mover with 90 (!) touches – which is slightly concerning.

Six won aerials from James Chester, to lead Aston Villa.

Not much to differentiate from the first three defenders listed. None of them particularly shut down Preston, but Nathan Baker did complete 80% of his passes.

Really nice 1-2 work with André Green on the left flank, but there was something missing from Amavi’s game. Gave the ball away a little too easily with a sub-70% pass success rate.

This rating may be a little high, but we can’t fault the goalscorer. Adomah was a constant menace all afternoon long – even if his two goals were a tap-in and a spot kick.

Positive debut from the former Arsenal man! (Yeah, I know he played eight matches, just roll with it). We saw the good and bad from Lansbury. He worked box-to-box, delivered some set pieces, and threatened with his technical quality. He also put in a pair of reckless tackles.

Conservative, short passing. I’d call it tidy, but he only completed 75.6% of his passes – a disappointment for zero incisiveness. Not sure Westwood has done enough to reserve his place in the starting eleven.

André Green was heavily involved in the attack; a very positive sign from an eighteen year old. Should have scored on a free header, but I think Green has a part to play for Villa the remainder of the season.

Linked play beautifully from midfield into the attack. Aston Villa’s most involved attacking player easily deserved an assist somewhere in the match. Attempted three shots, one on target.

Gabby deserves a seven on context alone; he actually recorded an assist on Adomah’s opener! When was the last time Gabriel Agbonlahor assisted in an Aston Villa goal? 2010? 2009? Jokes aside, Gabby showed some real promise moving forward, even if his finishing qualities let him down. It should be interesting to see how Steve Bruce uses him until Jonathan Kodjia returns from AFCON competition.