Aston Villa: Appreciating the efforts of now super-sub Keinan Davis
By Dean Caffrey
20-year old Aston Villa forward Keinan Davis has transformed his role from emergency starter to impact super-substitute.
When you look at Keinan Davis’s statistics for this season, they don’t appear too impressive.
3 goals in total with only 2 league strikes to his name are tame, especially when you consider his role as the farthest attacker and that wingers Albert Adomah (13), Robert Snodgrass (7) and midfielder Conor Hourihane (9) are all comprehensively outscoring him. However, there is so much more to Davis’ game than just goals.
His hold-up play is so impressive and unwavering that it’s impacted Aston Villa in their last two matches specifically. As a second-half substitute when Keinan Davis is on the pitch, Villa outscored their Preston and Wednesday opposition 4-0.
His play seamlessly creates a more fluid attacking dynamic within the team. He allows midfield runners to do precisely that, run with the ball. He possesses a dribbling ability that’s improving for a man of his stature, evidenced by a near goal late against The Owls. His finishing and final pass need improving, but nobody is the finished article at such a tender age. Having just turned 20, time is on Davis’ side.
His first real introduction from the start in the Championship vs. Norwich City last August was as much a surprise as it was unlikely. Signed by Villa in December 2015 from Biggleswade Town, he started off in the youth team at the club, but he was by no means the main attraction for Villa coaches at that level. André Green and Rushian Hepburn Murphy were the most talked about youngsters at Villa and it was expected these two would get their chance in the first team ahead of or even instead of Davis. It hasn’t turned out like that, owing in part to injury to both Green and RHM. That’s not to say that Davis didn’t deserve his big chance.
He featured a handful of times from the bench last season as Jonathan Kodjia and Gabriel Agbonlahor were out, and with Hogan struggling for form, it gave him some exposure to the league. This season, for the exact same reasons mentioned above, he featured again, but this time from the start. His first start against Norwich was a roaring success, bullying the opposition defense and having plenty of chances as well as recording an assist. The win for Villa kick-started this season, with Davis featuring in most games since.
Next: Aston Villa vs. Sheffield Wednesday: Player Grades
The toughest part of the season for Davis was having to play every game for most of November. An injury crisis left him the only fit striker for the better part of five weeks. Playing that many 90 minutes as a lone front-man at 19 years of age is a tough ask, but he worked his socks off.
It’s understandable he might be dealing with fatigue, but the introduction of Lewis Grabban as eased the scoring burdens on young Keinan Davis. He has a huge role to play with 12 league matches remaining. Can he continue to be Aston Villa’s super-sub attacker?