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When it’s come to goals this season at Aston Villa, it’s been all about Tammy Abraham, with the Chelsea loanee bagging 25 in the Championship.
Therefore, Villa fans will have understandably been concerned when the striker was ruled out of their clash with Millwall on Easter Monday with a shoulder injury.
It’s a problem that looks as though it’ll keep him out of Villa’s clash with Leeds this coming weekend too.
However, stepping up to the plate when it mattered most was Jonathan Kodjia who sealed a record-breaking tenth win in a row for Villa and their place in the play-offs.
On the chalkboard
Kodjia showed on Monday that there is more to Villa than Abraham and that if the 21-year-old doesn’t return next season, he is more than capable of replacing him.
The Ivorian has struggled for consistency and fitness since scoring 19 for the club during the 2016/17 season. He now well and truly looks back to his best.
He came off the bench to score a vital penalty against Rotherham earlier in the month and he was on hand again this week to seal another huge win for the club, scoring his eighth goal of the campaign.
When Dean Smith needed a man, Kodjia was there and scored a lovely instinctive finish after making a clever run to the near post – that sort of darting run and confident finish is all the evidence you need that he is back at 100 per cent.
There was more to his game than that though and playing as the lone striker, rather than as a pair when he’d lined up alongside Abraham against Rotherham, he was terrific at bringing the rest of his team into the game.
He completed the game with a pass success of 93 per cent, keeping things simple when it needed to be whilst also winning one aerial duel and completing two dribbles.
It showed the dynamic nature of the forward and proves that he can still have a huge say in Villa’s promotion efforts.
Abraham will likely slot straight back in once he’s fit again, but with the pair of them in attack Smith’s side can find even greater potency.
