Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has provided an injury update on Ezri Konsa after he was forced off in our FA Cup tie against Tottenham.
The Villa centre-half had to be replaced after just 27 minutes in our 2-1 win on Sunday evening, as he pulled up sharply after racing back to defend a cross into the box.
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Having received treatment on the pitch, it became clear that he wouldn’t be able to continue, and Lamare Bogarde was subsequently brought on to replace him.
With Tyrone Mings and Pau Torres already sidelined by injury, Villa are short of options in that department with Boubacar Kamara forming part of our makeshift backline in recent games.
Emery will be boosted by the availability of loan signing Axel Disasi after he was cup-tied for our encounter with Tottenham, and it’s hoped that Mings is closing in on a return having been spotted in training this past week.
Nevertheless, Konsa has been one of the most important and consistent players in the Villa XI for some time now, and so if he is forced to miss games, it will be a major blow for us.
The Villa boss gave very little away but seemingly downplayed the possibility that Konsa could be facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
“Konsa is hopefully not a big injury,” he noted, as per the Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell.Â
Meanwhile, Konsa himself later added on Instagram: “Hopefully injury isn’t a bad one.”
Emery said something similar after Mings’ setback at the end of January, and the Villa centre-half has gone on to miss two, potentially three, games, and so it’s clear that Konsa will require further tests on Monday to determine the severity of the issue.
Naturally, it’s hoped that those scans provide positive news and he hasn’t suffered a significant setback, as even without the absence of others, losing Konsa for any period of time is a big blow for Villa. That said, if it was a serious concern, that would likely be apparent to the medical staff and Emery immediately, and so hopefully we’ve avoided that scenario.
We’ll likely find out more as the week progresses, as we’ll firstly get an indication from training as to whether or not the centre-half is involved, before Emery speaks to the media in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, ahead of our Premier League clash with Ipswich Town on Saturday.
