Performance In Numbers

1 assist, 100% crossing: Leeds United man must be in with shot of displacing new signing

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Jesse Marsch will have a decision to make when Leeds United welcome Aston Villa to Elland Road, on whether to go with Luke Ayling or Rasmus Kristensen.

Shipping five in the Premier League is always going to ask questions of your defensive selection process heading into the next game, but while Diego Llorente’s form is not looking good, Luke Ayling gave Marsch a really positive dilemma.

Having started on the bench away to the Bees, Cody Drameh was the man to start, with regular starter Rasmus Kristensen missing out with a knock.

The Dane is expected to be fit for the home clash on October 2 against Villa after being named in the Denmark national side for the upcoming international break, meaning Marsch will have all three of his right-backs to choose from.

Drameh had a steady game at right-back and will hope he’s in the mix, but we’re going to focus on the very impressive outing off the bench from Ayling.

The 31-year-old came on in the 70th minute and made an instant impact during his 29 minutes on the pitch – albeit after a clash of heads that bent his nose out of shape.

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Did Ayling make any senior appearances for Arsenal?

When comparing Ayling’s numbers from his cameo in West London to Kristensen’s averages, they favour the former very much in an attacking sense – all via Wyscout.

First of all, Ayling’s cross for Marc Roca’s goal to make it 3-2 saw him notch his first assist of the season before the Dane could, while it was also one of three 100% accurate crosses – meanwhile, we’ve only seen one cross from Kristensen find a Leeds shirt this season out of six attempts.

The emphasis on Ayling’s attacking qualities is the main focus here, given the nature of the game he came into, with Leeds chasing the match from the moment he came on.

Even then, he managed 11 out of 12 passes (92% accuracy) in that time, which is considerably higher than the 73% average of the new arrival he’s competing with.

Ayling has always been a full-back keen to venture forward and is very confident in his abilities too, with four dribbles attempted and two successful, just two behind Kristensen’s totals in attempts and successes.

Kristensen has been able to get by his man, but what these numbers show is that he’s not backing himself enough to do it, coming from the Austrian Bundesliga where he was averaging more than two successful dribbles a game.

In terms of duels, Ayling wasn’t the best with only three successful out of 10, compared to Kristensen’s 18/31 success.

A very small sample size inflates Ayling’s qualities over Kristensen somewhat here and seeing either with a solid run of games in the side would give us a better judgement, but we’ve known for some time what Ayling brings to this side going up and down the right flank, and it’s something that Marsch might want to tap into after his first appearance of the season.

Who should be first-choice at right-back?

Rasmus Kristensen

Rasmus Kristensen

Luke Ayling

Luke Ayling

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Leeds United season ticket holder since 2013/14, currently situated in the middle of the FA5 noise. From Pablo Hernandez to 5-1 drubbings, I've seen it all at Elland Road.