Unai Emery has supplied a telling update on some of his injured Aston Villa stars ahead of their trip to Sheffield United.
It’s been a difficult few weeks for Aston Villa on the pitch. Unai Emery’s side are winless in three matches in all competitions and saw their 17-match unbeaten home run come to an end at the hands of Newcastle United on Tuesday night.
As the old saying goes, Villa need to dust themselves down and bounce back from their recent hardships by putting in a statement performance against Sheffield United.
With only one win against the Blades in their last seven matches, the Premier League strugglers have proven to be a bogey team in recent years.
That said, they have only claimed victory in two of their 22 matches this term, so relegation is looking likely and that could mean a return of Cameron Archer to Villa.
Emery would have liked a fully fit squad to choose from at Bramall Lane, but he’s still without some of his key stars.
Unai Emery issues Aston Villa injury update as Nicolo Zaniolo ruled out
Aston Villa remain without Pau Torres, Lucas Digne, Jhon Duran and now Nicolo Zaniolo for their trip to South Yorkshire this evening.
Torres has dealt Villa the biggest blow, however, as they’ve not won a game in the four matches he’s been absent.
Meanwhile, when Duran suffered his injury, Emery thought he could count upon the Italian as a backup to Ollie Watkins, but his injury has come as a blow ahead of a busy eight-day period in which they face the Blades, Chelsea and Manchester United.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s match, the Villa boss supplied an update on the fitness of Torres.
“He is getting better, he is practising on the pitch,” Emery said. “That is the first step before he can join us next week.”
While his return to the side will be massive in the quest for Champions League football, it is complemented by the blow of losing Zaniolo to injury.
When asked about his issue, he explained: “He felt this morning in training some pain. He was not feeling good and did not finish the session. He is not in the squad. Hopefully it is not a big problem.”
The injury to the on-loan Galatasaray man could mean Rogers features in claret and blue sooner than expected, though Emery has said he will be using his new signing as a number eight or 10 moving forward.
Villa could move back into the top four with a victory over United this evening.
