Troy Deeney tells Aston Villa to start £21m star much more often despite ‘weird’ start

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Thankfully for Unai Emery, Aston Villa have shot up the Premier League table after back-to-back wins.

Burnley suffered the same fate as Fulham the week before at Villa Park on Sunday, and Emery’s side were simply too good for the visitors.

Aston Villa still won’t be content with 13th spot in the Premier League, but at least they have finally moved well clear of the bottom three.

After the international break, Villa face some incredibly hard fixtures in the Premier League, and it would be a pretty ominous situation without those consecutive home wins.

Boubacar Kamara was excellent against Burnley on Sunday, and Villa will now need to rely on the stars which made them such a difficult side to beat last term.

Troy Deeney thinks Unai Emery needs to play Donyell Malen more often

That being said, after Donyell Malen’s two goals in Villa’s victory last weekend, pundit Troy Deeney has now spoken about the forward’s future involvement in Emery’s XI.

After including Malen in his Team of the Week, Deeney shared his belief that the Dutchman needed to start games more often in order to reach his top levels.

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Following his £21m move to Villa in January, Malen has been involved in 10 games so far this season, but those appearances have only yielded 374 minutes combined.

Sharing his thoughts, Deeney said: “A weird start to his Aston Villa career – he came in from Borussia Dortmund and it looked like he would be helping them in the Champions League but he didn’t make the squad because of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio.

“Then he was a bit-part player, did OK but didn’t look like he had the confidence. Against Burnley he got a start and scored twice.

“I think he’s someone who needs to start and build into the game, he’s better starting than coming off the bench. The two finishes were magnificent.”

Unai Emery played Donyell Malen in a slightly different role against Burnley

Interestingly, Malen did seem slightly more free to attack in central areas in his minutes against Burnley.

Malen started on the right for Villa, as he usually has since his arrival from Borussia Dortmund.

But the Netherlands international didn’t seem to have as many defensive responsibilities as usual, and it seemed as if John McGinn was sitting slightly deeper to allow Malen to almost play as a second striker at times.

Malen might be Villa’s new penalty-taker as well following Ollie Watkins’ miss against Bologna recently, and it’s all looking pretty promising for the former Arsenal forward right now.

Villa have been lacking inspiration at times this season, but it seems as if they’ve now stumbled upon a forward with a point to prove.