Aston Villa defender Diego Carlos has provided Unai Emery with an injury boost as he appears to be back in group training with the rest of the squad.
The 30-year-old suffered a hamstring injury in training last month, and has subsequently missed our last three Premier League games with the issue.
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Fortunately, Villa had a major boost last weekend as Ezri Konsa returned from his own injury setback to start in our win at Luton, while Pau Torres was named on the bench after picking up a knock in the win over Nottingham Forest the week prior.
It now appears as though we’re edging ever closer to being at almost full strength in defence, as Villa posted an update on Tuesday, as seen below, showing Carlos reporting for duty in training at Bodymoor Heath, and so it’s hoped he’s now available again.
Naturally, the hope is that we can revert back to having Konsa and Torres in the heart of the backline as we have fared well with that partnership, but it’s important to have strength in depth to cope with our upcoming schedule.
In addition to a big European tie as we face Ajax in the round of 16 stage of the Europa Conference League over the next week, we have a crunch Premier League meeting at home against Tottenham on Sunday, which is an opportunity to solidify our place in fourth spot and take an important step towards qualifying for the Champions League.
Having as close to a full-strength squad at Emery’s disposal is therefore key, and so having Konsa, Torres and Carlos back after their respective injury concerns will be a vital development in our campaign.
While we’ve rediscovered our winning form and won three on the bounce in the league – scoring nine goals in the process – we’ve also conceded five goals in that run of games.
That will undoubtedly be an area in which Emery will want to see improvement and for us to get back to our more resilient defensive form, as it will be key in the run in, in terms of not having to outgun our opponents week in and week out.
The Villa boss will also hopefully deliver positive news on Jacob Ramsey in his pre-Ajax press conference on Wednesday, after the 22-year-old was forced off against Luton with another foot problem. Long-term absentees Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia and Boubacar Kamara will remain sidelined.
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 5, 2024