Unai Emery saw his side successfully navigate a potentially tricky away fixture at newly promoted Leicester City as Aston Villa ran out 2-1 winners at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
Goals from Amadou Onana and Jhon Duran saw Aston Villa 2-1 winners against Leicester, with a Facundo Buonanotte goal halving the deficit on 73 minutes ultimately not enough for the Foxes.
Unai Emery can enter the first international break of the season relatively happy with Villa‘s start to the season as they boast six points from a possible nine with the knowledge that they went toe-to-toe with Arsenal despite falling to a 2-0 defeat.
Matty Cash went off injured in the 15th-minute against the Gunners and was replaced by 18-year-old right-back Kosta Nedeljkovic who was then expected to come in for his full debut against Leicester, particularly with Diego Carlos ruled out through injury.
However, that is not what happened as Emery sprung a real surprise with his solution to the absence of Cash and Carlos.
Unai Emery handed Lamare Bogarde surprise start against Leicester City
Had Carlos been available, Emery would have had the option of bringing the centre-back into the side and shifting Ezri Konsa to right-back.
Carlos’ injury took that option off the table, though, meaning it was widely assumed the only real option was to hand Nedeljkovic his first competitive start for the club.
