Aston Villa suffered a triple blow ahead of kick-off against Brentford with Tyrone Mings, John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey all missing out.
Villa have bounced back well from the opening-day defeat at Watford, securing wins against Newcastle Utd and Barrow in the Premier League and Carabao Cup respectively over the past week.
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Dean Smith will be desperate to build on that and finish on a high ahead of the international break, and while we can of course still do that, the task has certainly become harder without three key players.
As per Villa’s official Twitter account, it was confirmed that Mings has been ruled out due to injury with no further details revealed on that despite Smith noting in his press conference on Friday that there were no new concerns within the squad beyond those already sidelined.
That in turn suggests that our captain may well have suffered his setback in the afternoon session on Friday after the press conference.
Meanwhile, both McGinn and Ramsey will play no part as they are missing due to having to follow government guidelines with regards to Covid-19.
Given the influence, experience and quality of Mings and McGinn, those are two major losses for Villa as we look to secure three important points against Brentford, while Ramsey has made such a positive impact after coming on at Watford that his absence will be equally as damaging.
Nevertheless, with Matt Targett returning at left-back, Axel Tuanzebe replacing Mings in the middle and Carney Chukwuemeka getting the start in midfield in place of McGinn, it’s hoped that we’ve got enough quality to get the job done and to continue to build momentum and be well placed when returning after the International break.
