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Three Aston Villa players with points to prove ahead of Pathum United friendly
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- Three Aston Villa players with points to prove ahead of Pathum United friendly
Those on the Aston Villa fringes haven't got long to make an impression on Unai Emery.
It's four pre-season friendlies down, four to go for Aston Villa this summer.
Saturday night saw the Villains play the first match in their tour of Asia against an Indonesia All Stars XI.
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Villa ran out 3-1 winners at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium, with Emi Buendia , Ross Barkley and Brian Madjo scoring the Villa goals.
Emery named a mixed starting XI for this one, with several young talents starting alongside fringe senior players and a couple of established stars.
So, ahead of Tuesday night's next friendly against Pathum United, Villa News identifies three players whose performances perhaps have the most riding on them.
Evann Guessand is trying to carve out new Aston Villa role
Villa Newsdiscussed Evann Guessand's disappointing performance for Aston Villa against Indonesia XI , as he tries to win a place in Emery's thinking.
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The 25-year-old moved to Villa Park last summer from Nice in a deal worth up to £30million, but struggled during the first half of his debut campaign before finishing 2025-26 on loan with Crystal Palace .
He performed better at Selhurst Park, but still only registered two goals and one assist in 12 appearances, which was the exact same return he provided in his first 21 games for Villa.
A winger by trade, the Ivorian international actually started as the lone striker against Indonesia All Stars, but was replaced at half-time by Madjo who went on to score.
Whilst Ollie Watkins remains the obvious starting number nine, Tammy Abraham 's long-term Villa Park future is already under some doubt, and he's also still recovering from having an operation on his shoulder.
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Therefore, now is the perfect time for Guessand to grab his opportunity in attack, as for all that Madjo is clearly a talented player, he's still just 17-years old and may not be quite ready for a Premier League role just yet.
But if he can't find the net against Indonesia All Stars and potentially Thai outfit Pathum United, respectfully, Emery surely won't give him serious consideration for a striker role moving forward.
Moving away from the forward line, let's take a look at a midfielder who Emery is set to make a big decision on in the coming days.
Why Evann Guessand can be Aston Villa's secret weapon for Unai Emery Midfield goalscorer vs Indonesia XI needs to keep foot on the gas
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Entering the final 12 months of his Aston Villa contract, Barkey seems to have reached a crossroad in his Villains career.
The 32-year-old has been strongly linked with a move away from Villa Park this summer, with fellow West Midlands outfit Coventry City one of the sides having been heavily touted with his potential signature.
Barkley played 21 times in the Premier League last season, scoring three goals and providing one assist, but his form towards the end of term really put him back in the B6 picture.
As per FotMob , his 65 per cent dribble success rate ranked him in the top 3.8 per cent of all attacking midfielders in the Premier League in 2025-26.
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Meanwhile, he also placed amongst the top-performing players in his position for goals per 90 (0.32), pass accuracy (87.7 per cent), big chances created per game (0.42) and long ball success rate (73.7 per cent).
However, with the arrivals of Johan Manzambi and Joao Gomes , as well as Boubacar Kamara now returning from injury, there's some real quality for Emery to choose from in his engine room.
As such, Barkley needs to follow up his goal against Indonesia XI with another similar outing against Pathum, as he's set to face even sterner competition for minutes next season if he is to stay.
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Now let's end by taking a look at youngster between the sticks who is trying to retain his first-team role at Villa Park this summer.
Villa academy shot-stopper takes step forward vs Indonesia XI
James Wright is a name becoming increasingly more familiar with Aston Villa fans as the pre-season rumbles on.
The 21-year-old academy goalkeeping prospect played the second half against Walsall, Porto and Real Sociedad , but he didn't just get 45 minutes against Indonesia All Stars.
This time, Wright played the full 90 minutes in Jakarta, and thus appears to have been impressing Emery and the Villa coaching staff throughout the pre-season campaign.
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Wright played just two Premier League 2 games last season for the Under-21s, in which he kept one clean sheet, recorded a save percentage of 73.3 per cent, saved one penalty and made zero errors leading to goals - per FotMob.
He was also on the bench for all of Villa's Europa League knockout games, and was also part of Emery's matchday squad for a handful of Premier League games in 2025-26.
Wright looks to have a genuine opportunity to oust Marco Bizot from the number two role this summer, which would be a fantastic achievement for the young keeper and a brilliant landmark for the academy too.
He will know that if he keeps playing well throughout the rest of the summer, Emery may reward him with the backup job on a full-time basis.
