Aston Villa’s 6-0 win over Fenerbahce featured a key change in the forward area, as Ibrahim Mbaye came in to start just his second game for the club and his first in the Champions League.
His inclusion gave Villa fans a long-awaited first look at Mbaye, Johan Manzambi and Nicolas Jackson together, as they had not started a match together before Wednesday night.
The results were clear to see as Villa ripped their Turkish opponents apart, with Mbaye, Manzambi and Jackson combining for three goals and an assist.
Manzambi has made a huge impact since being brought into the starting lineup against Spurs last month.
The 21-year-old leads the team domestically with an average of 0.67 combined expected goals (xG) and expected assists (xA) per 90 minutes, and has been involved in four goals in three starts across the Premier League and Champions League.
It spoke volumes that Unai Emery was willing to throw him in against Tottenham despite a lack of training time due to a knee injury he picked up at the World Cup. Even if he does not fully understand Emery’s system yet, so much of Villa’s recent success in attack is going through him.
Jackson is in a brilliant vein of form, having scored five goals in the last four games in which he played more than 45 minutes. He has rapidly become one of, if not Villa’s best player.
Adding Mbaye to the mix brings the kind of legitimate speed threat Villa have not had out wide in quite some time, and after some cameo appearances, he was impressive on his first start at Villa Park on Wednesday night.
The Senegalese winger worried the Fenerbahce defense all night and assisted Ross Barkley for Villa’s 5th goal after keeping in an overhit pass that only he may have been able to get to among Villa’s players.
No disrespect to John McGinn on the right, but Villa’s left side was the big ticket item on Wednesday night. The connection between the three attackers is already showing signs of being dangerous, with Manzambi usually the conductor feeding passes through to Mbaye or Jackson.
Manzambi and Jackson are already cemented into the lineup, but it will be interesting to see whether Mbaye starts again at Newcastle on Saturday, or if Emi Buendia returns to the starting 11. It may take time before Emery trusts the 18-year-old in the same way he does the other two.
But as Villa fans saw against Fenerbahce, the potential for what that trio could do together is extremely exciting.
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