A forgotten man at Aston Villa may have been offered a route back into the team thanks to the appointment of Unai Emery as manager.
Emery was surprisingly named as Steven Gerrard's replacement on Monday night, with the Spaniard arriving from Villarreal. He has previous experience of the Premier League through an 18-month spell as manager of Arsenal, who he led to the 2019 Europa League final.
His managerial talents are sorely needed at Villa Park, with the Midlands side just three points above the relegation zone. Having won just two top-flight games all season, Gerrard was sacked last Thursday, which opens the door for out of favour players to return to the fold.
One of those stars is Calum Chambers, who has started just one Premier League game all season. Aside from that outing in a defeat to West Ham, the Englishman has played only nine other minutes of top-flight action, coming on as a late susbstitute against Everton and Brentford.
But Emery's arrival could now offer the 27-year-old a lifeline to revitalise his Villa career. That is because the Spaniard was a clear fan of Chambers during their shared time at the Gunners.
In Emery's first season as Gunners boss, Chambers made 33 appearances in all competitions and was a regular starter. While Emery only lasted until the November of his second campaign, Chambers remained a frequent fixture of his team.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Will Unai Emery be a success at Aston Villa? Comment below.
His standout game under the Spaniard's management came in a Carabao Cup clash with Nottingham Forest in September 2019. Chambers started the game at right-back, before switched over to the left for the final 13 minutes.
The Englishman laid on three assists during that win, with Gabriel Martinelli scoring twice and Reiss Nelson once thanks to Chambers. That led to Emery hailing the defender, though he did admit that Chambers had ignored his instructions to be more defensive.
“He helped. He helped us in the training, in the dressing room and when you need him to play right-back, centre back, left-back like tonight, and if we can use him in the midfield also,” Emery said.
“His performance is starting with his attitude and his attitude is amazing. After that is his best position, but tonight, for example, I was telling him, when he was playing left-back, be calm here.
"Help and support Bukayo [Saka], give the ball to Dani Ceballos and he was overlapping a lot of times with Bukayo! He did one very good pass for the goal with Nelson. He didn't listen to me!”
With Villa having kept just three clean sheets all season, Chambers will hope his familiarity with Emery and his style of play can lead to increased game time. Villa will play one more game under the caretaker management of Aaron Danks before Emery officially takes charge in time for a visit from Manchester United.
The final match under Danks will come on Saturday when Villa travel to St James Park to take on high-flying Newcastle.
