Fixtures
- West Ham United Vs. Aston Villa – Sat, Aug 17th 2024, 17:30
Youri Tielemans hailed the debut performance of compatriot Amadou Onana in Saturday’s 2-1 victory at West Ham United.
Onana enjoyed a dream start for Aston Villa as he headed home Tielemans’ corner to bag his maiden goal for the club after just four minutes.
It was quite the entrance, becoming the joint-earliest goal a Villa player has scored on his Premier League debut alongside Kevin Phillips’ strike against Bolton Wanderers in August 2005.
Onana subsequently put in a superb display which earned him the Player of the Match award and the club an excellent opening-day three points.
Asked post-match what’s been important for his Belgium international team-mate settling in, Tielemans said: “Just to play his game; he’s got loads of confidence, loads of qualities.
“He’s just exposed all of that today (against West Ham) and hopefully he can carry on and become even better than he is.”
Tielemans saluted a “massive” win at London Stadium as the Villans got their 2024/25 campaign up and running in perfect fashion.
Onana wasn’t the only debutant as Ian Maatsen and Kosta Nedeljković also made their first appearances for the club, while summer signing Jaden Philogene enjoyed a second debut following his return.
Villa picked up where they left off after last season’s impressive fourth-placed finish, and midfielder Tielemans was quick to praise the system put in place by manager Unai Emery which has enabled the new additions to thrive.
“It’s just about the system and the players coming in have worked really hard to get the system in, credit to them,” he added.
“Amadou, I know him from the national team so it’s a bit easier for me to find him.
“The manager has been working really hard on the training pitch and we’ve just done what the manager asks of us.
“So, we’re very happy and it’s really good looking forward.”
