Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed our latest team news ahead of facing Brentford this weekend, and it’s a similar story to recent weeks.
Villa have won seven of our last eight Premier League games in a run that has lifted us into sixth place in the standings, but the difficult fixtures continue.
READ MORE: How Villa could line up vs Brentford: Impressive duo in line to keep places
A trip to Brentford will be another tough test of our credentials for a European qualification spot, and ideally, Emery would have been hoping for good news on the injury front this week to move closer to having a fully-fit squad available.
However, as per his comments below, the Villa boss has confirmed that won’t be the case as Matty Cash, Boubacar Kamara, Philippe Coutinho and Leon Bailey haven’t recovered in time to feature.
“I think nothing has changed about the players that were injured for this match,” he told the media, as per BirminghamLive. “Tomorrow is last training, but I think it’s not different for tomorrow. The players who were injured last week I think are still out for this match as well.”
In turn, the expectation is that Villa will be unchanged from the side that beat Newcastle Utd last weekend, with Leander Dendoncker doing an excellent job in midfield.
Further, Ashley Young will likely continue at right-back, and so it’s a settled and consistent Villa XI that will hopefully be able to replicate the level of performance we saw last time out.
Given the quality and experience of the players currently sidelined, it’s hoped that they can return sooner rather than later, as they’ll now target a comeback against Fulham in midweek next week, or perhaps away at Man Utd next Sunday.
That said, Emery will have every faith in those at his disposal to continue to improve and build on this superb run we’re on, and it’s hoped that they can deliver again this weekend to keep our European hopes going.
The latest on Leon, Matty, Bouba and Philippe ahead of the weekend. ⏳ #BREAVL pic.twitter.com/g4mB0NTLly
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 20, 2023
