Aston Villa failed to make the most of their rivals slipping up on Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw by West Ham United in the Premier League on Sunday.
Tottenham Hotspur were hammered 3-0 by London rivals Fulham and that created an opportunity for the Villans to extend the gap between themselves and Ange Postecoglou's side in the hunt for Champions League football.
Unfortunately, they only gained one point as they moved three clear of Spurs after Michail Antonio's first-half header was then cancelled out by Nicolo Zaniolo's second-half strike at the London Stadium.
Two players – Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers – were handed their first Premier League starts of the season and one of those players, the Colombian centre-forward, failed Unai Emery's big test badly.
Morgan Rogers' stats against West Ham
The January signing from Championship side Middlesbrough did not grasp his opportunity with both hands but also did not do himself a huge disservice.
Rogers was selected to play on the left flank and tried to get himself involved in the match with 44 touches of the ball in 63 minutes on the pitch.
Minutes played
63
Dribbles completed
2/3
Passes completed
20/26
Duels won
4/11
Possession lost
11x
As you can see in the table above, the former second division starlet did complete 67% of his attempted dribbles and managed to win four physical duels throughout the game, which shows that he put himself about and worked hard to make things happen.
The 21-year-old dynamo also registered one shot on target, as he forced Alphonse Areola into a save, but failed to create a chance for his teammates.
These statistics show that Rogers was average without being terrible on the wing as he did not have a howler but did not stand out as a key performer for the Villans.
Why Jhon Duran was worse than Morgan Rogers
Duran also made his first Premier League start of the campaign, having scored two goals in 14 substitute appearances before Sunday, and let Emery down badly after the Spanish head coach placed his trust in the striker.
The Colombia international was worse than Rogers as he was completely ineffective at the top end of the pitch, which led to the manager taking him off to be replaced by Moussa Diaby – who went on to assist the equaliser – at the break.
Duran was a lightweight for the Villans out of possession as West Ham's players beat him in 80% (4/5) of their duels with the former MLS forward, which shows that he was far too easily beaten in physical contests.
The 20-year-old attacker also failed to register a single effort on goal or chance created for his teammates, along with a 0% (0/1) dribble success rate, on the ball. Whereas, Rogers had a shot on target, completed two dribbles, and won four of his duels.
These statistics show that the young marksman struggled with both sides of the game as he failed to make the most of a huge chance to showcase his quality from the start in a Premier League game and let Emery down badly.
He was worse than Rogers, who at least tried to make things happen and did win some of his physical contests, and may not get another opportunity to start in the league any time soon, based on this disappointing performance.