Alan Hutton urges Unai Emery to drop summer signing for Forest clash

Unai Emery should bench Nicolo Zaniolo and start Leon Bailey when Aston Villa face Nottingham Forest.

That is the view of Alan Hutton, who believes Bailey is worthy of a starting place in Villa’s squad to play Forest on Sunday.

Bailey’s potential inclusion must come at the expense of Zaniolo though, who Hutton admits has been playing well, but Bailey’s form is just too good to overlook.

“It’s an interesting one,” Hutton told Villa News.

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“I like what I’ve seen from Zaniolo. I wasn’t sure about him when he first came in but I met him when Villa played Hibs up in Edinburgh and he’s massive; he’s a big, really physical guy.

“I thought it took him a little bit of time to settle in but the more he plays, the more I think he’s going to get better and he’s going to understand how the manager wants to play.

“On the other side of that, you’ve got Bailey, who’s been electric. He can give you something different, he can get in behind, he cuts in on his left and he’s very, very dangerous.

“For me, I would play Bailey. But there’s a big question mark over his consistency – can he give you his best week in, week out or for an entire 90 minutes? He’s definitely got it in him so that’s the way I would head at this moment in time.”