With games against Brighton, Zrinjski and Wolves over the next week, Aston Villa face a crucial run of fixtures as we look to put a run of form together.
A response is expected this weekend after disappointment in midweek as we exited the Carabao Cup following a defeat to Everton in the third round, and so Unai Emery and the players will be looking to bounce back and get back to winning ways immediately.
READ MORE: How Villa could line up vs Brighton: Multiple changes, key trio come back in
Having struggled in midweek games though over the past fortnight as he’s looked to rotate and rest players, Emery will be buoyed by the fact that Diego Carlos, Jacob Ramsey and Tim Iroegbunam were back in group training in the latest images released by the club.
All three will have a pivotal role to play for us in the coming weeks and months, with Ramsey’s influence of course obvious given the quality he adds to the side on the left flank in both phases of the game.
Despite returning from injury recently, he missed out against Everton after picking up a fresh knock, and although Emery revealed that he faces a late fitness test to determine if he’ll be on the bench against Brighton, it was good to see him involved in training ahead of the encounter, as seen in the tweet below.
Meanwhile, Carlos will be a crucial option to have back too both in terms of forming our strongest XI and rotating, as we saw the likes of Calum Chambers and Clement Lenglet struggle in Europe last week.
Further, he also gives Emery the option of shifting Ezri Konsa to right-back and playing with three centre-halves in a system that suited us over pre-season and in some games this year, so that’s a vital solution that will hopefully be available to the Villa boss again soon after his latest injury setback.
As for Iroegbunam, we’ve also seen Leander Dendoncker and Youri Tielemans struggle to impress when coming into the starting XI, and so while the talented youngster is still inexperienced, he did well last season during his loan spell at QPR and with us previously, while he looked good in our set-up at Walsall in pre-season too.
Emery has consistently included him in his injury and team news updates since the start of the campaign, and so that gives the impression that Iroegbunam is firmly part of his plans. With his technical ability and defensive qualities in front of the backline, he may well be a top option to have to rotate in and give Boubacar Kamara in particular a chance to rest.
✅ Diego Carlos, Jacob Ramsey & Tim Iroegbunam among the group in latest training pics.
Important boost getting the trio back for the week ahead, hopefully Alex Moreno to follow again soon too 🤞🏽#avfc #UTV 🟣🔵 pic.twitter.com/N5mkFwtRoH
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) September 29, 2023
