Aston Villa injury news: Quartet set to miss Newcastle Utd clash

Aston Villa face a difficult test against Newcastle Utd this weekend, and Unai Emery has confirmed our latest team news ahead of the encounter.

With six wins in our last seven Premier League games, we’ve moved up to sixth place in the standings currently, and thus put ourselves in contention at least for a European qualification spot.

READ MORE: Villa stalwart continues to show his class with key role in positive run

Things still need to go our way elsewhere with our rivals having games in-hand, but all Unai Emery will be preaching to the squad is to focus on ourselves and continue to take it game by game.

While we deserve credit for beating what was in front of us in what was perhaps a largely favourable run of fixtures in recent weeks against sides in the bottom half of the table, the real test lies ahead in our remaining games.

That in turn makes the Newcastle clash so important, as if we can extend our current form against a more competitive side, that will surely continue to build real belief and confidence within the group that we can maintain our level against top sides and continue our streak.

However, Emery will be hoping for more positive news on the injury front in the coming weeks, as he confirmed that we won’t be welcoming any injured players back for this one as they remain sidelined.

“Team news comes when you don’t want it to,” Emery told the media on Friday, as per BirminghamLive. “You have to be ready to replace [the players] and we have to exploit our squad. We’re trying to work with them and for them to be ready. Now is the moment.

“We have some players injured. We have to carry on – and not use excuses and to try to be the same with one player or another. The same players are going to be out tomorrow. I think it won’t be a long time but tomorrow they’re not available.”

That seemingly means Matty Cash (calf), Boubacar Kamara (ankle), Philippe Coutinho (hamstring) and Leon Bailey (hamstring) all remain sidelined, and it’s hoped that those who have done a brilliant job in their absence can continue to do so for another week at least.

While we’ve seen Ashley Young and John McGinn do an excellent job of filling those voids, time will tell who Emery opts to give a starting berth to on Saturday in Bailey’s place, but given his goalscoring heroics in our last two consecutive games, Bertrand Traore will certainly be hoping for a bigger role moving forward.

All eyes are on Newcastle this week, but it’s hoped that there is better news from the treatment room ahead of our encounter with Brentford next weekend, as that promises to be another serious test of our credentials.