Tyrone Mings comes out on top in Aston Villa's season ratings
After the club’s best Premier League season for 13 years, numerous players could lay legitimate claim to be Villa’s top performer.
The Express & Star rated their performances throughout the campaign, awarding marks out of 10 in every Monday edition.
Here are those who emerged with the best averages, from a minimum of 10 starts:
Tyrone Mings – 6.96
Infamously left out of the team for the opening day defeat at Bournemouth having also been stripped of the captaincy by Steven Gerrard, Mings went on to enjoy the most consistent season of his Villa career.
One of the few players to perform well during the first few months of the campaign, the centre-back’s performances went up several levels more following Unai Emery’s arrival.
Mings signed a new contract in February and ended the season with a well-deserved and perhaps slightly overdue England recall.
John McGinn – 6.87
The Scot’s first season as captain was a tale of two halves. On the bench for Emery’s first match in charge having lost his place in the team during the interim period following Gerrard’s departure, McGinn went from strength to strength after regaining his place in the team. He was consistently excellent during the run-in and is firmly re-established as a key cog in the Villa machine.
Douglas Luiz – 6.84
This was the season the Brazilian midfielder erased any doubts over his ability to perform consistently in the Premier League.
Among those left out of the Bournemouth defeat by Gerrard, Luiz went on to play a crucial role in Villa’s surge up the Premier League table under Emery. His return of six goals more than doubled his total tally from his first three seasons at the club.
Emi Martinez – 6.71