Aston Villa stats prove underlying issue, Nicolas Jackson will only make it worse
Aston Villa are having huge issues when it comes to creating top-quality goalscoring chances so far this season.
Unai Emery's side had to wait four games for their opening league win of the campaign, but finally got off the mark with a 3-2 victory at Tottenham before the international break.
That win in North London saw some outstanding finishing from Nicolas Jackson and Emiliano Buendia, but it arguably papered over the cracks in terms of their attacking output.
Emery's men have still scored just four goals in league action so far in 2026-27, and it simply isn't clicking for them in the final third so far.
They lost several key players during the summer transfer window, and it is clear that the turnover in the squad is causing issues at the moment.
Emery will be keen to get to the bottom of the problems as quickly as possible, and it is clear which area they lie in right now.
Aston Villa bottom of Premier League for shooting stats
Villa's impressive win at Tottenham arguably shrouded what has been their main issue so far this season: creating clear-cut chances in front of goal.
According to Opta Analyst, the second city outfit rank bottom of the entire Premier League for xG, with just 4.56 created from the opening five games.
Their creative struggles can be underlined further by the fact that their tally of 12 shots on target is also the lowest total in the division, despite Villa having a star-studded squad.
The team are simply not unlocking their opponents as much as they should be, and, concerningly for Emery and Co., Jackson is not the type of striker who only needs one chance to find the net.
He showed during his time at Chelsea that he can often be inconsistent in front of goal, and that does not bode well moving forward if Villa's creative issues continue.
Jackson does excellent work for the team out of possession, but with the attacking players feeding off scraps at the moment, it is possible that he may only exacerbate the issue even further.
Nicolas Jackson's character under scrutiny
Former Villa scout Mick Brown told Football Insider back in September that he has "concerns" about Jackson's temperament on the pitch.
The ex-recruitment man made that point after Emery was forced to subtitute the striker at half-time during the defeat to Nottingham Forest, as Jackson was already on a yellow card.
Brown believes that the Senegal international can be an "unstable character" at times, and he feels that could potentially cause issues for Villa moving forward.
Jackson may have escaped a red card in the clash with Forest, but Brown believes that another similar incident could potentially be around the corner.