Villa captain Mings’ form has dipped this season, says BBC pundit

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Tyrone Mings took over the Aston Villa captain’s armband from Jack Grealish this summer after the midfielder left for Manchester City.

Mings has been named in Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad and the fact he faced the press with his manager yesterday may suggest he is set to play against the Ivory Coast tonight.

But Chris Sutton was among those running the rule over the Three Lions’ squad on BBC’s Monday Night club last night and said that Mings’ form had tailed off since becoming Villa captain this season.

“We haven’t mentioned Tyrone Mings at Aston Villa,” said Sutton.

“What’s happened to him this season? He’s another player who has dipped, hasn’t he?”

There have always been questions about Mings’ spot in the England squad and in August, he admitted he had struggled mentally during Euro 2020 when called upon to start the first two games.

England kept two clean sheets in those games but Mings seemed acutely aware that some fans viewed him as a weak link.

It might be fair to say he is still among those with a question mark over him going into World Cup 2022.

There are plenty of fans who would rather Fikayo Tomori was in there, but Mings has never let England down and Southgate seems to value his leadership qualities.

Mings is always an eloquent off-field speaker on a variety of issues and that is something which has also become important to this England squad.

It looks like the Villa man will get the chance to offer a reminder of his quality tonight, and a clean sheet would be a boost and a response to critics like Sutton.