Zimbabwe national team midfielder MarvellousNakamba has been one of the early beneficiaries of a new manager at Aston Villa after he was given another Premier League start despite the return of Douglas Luiz from injury.
The aforementioned Luiz has been struggling with injury in the last few weeks and he was absent for the first game under Steven Gerrard. Zimbabwe international Nakamba was selected in the Villa midfield for the first game under Gerrard and he produced a very good performance as the new manager got off to a dream start via a 2-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion thanks to the late goals from Ollie Watkins and Tyrone Mings.
Zimbabwe national team midfielder Nakamba held on to his midfield spot for the next game under Gerrard, a 2-1 away win over in-form Crystal Palace. Nakamba was retained as the defensive midfielder with Brazilian player Luiz back from injury and he helped his team to another win as Villa ended the seven-match unbeaten run for Frenchman Patrick Vieira and his Palace players.
Aston Villa needed just 15 minutes to take the lead through left-back Matt Targett off the corner kick from veteran utility player Ashley Young and they held on to that lead until Scotland international John McGinn scored a second goal four minutes from time to wrap up the victory for his team. Palace defender Marc Guehi pulled one back for the home team in stoppage time, but it was too little too late as Villa made it two straight league wins on the back of a poor run of five successive losses in the same competition.