Aston Villa boss Unai Emery allayed early fears as he noted that the injury suffered by Diego Carlos at Liverpool on Sunday is ‘hopefully not a big injury’.
The 30-year-old was forced off after 19 minutes in our 3-0 defeat on Merseyside, as he appeared to be pointing out an issue around his knee area.
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Naturally, given our rotten luck with injuries so far this season having lost both Tyrone Mings and Emiliano Buendia to serious setbacks, there was immediate concern that we may well have lost another key player to the treatment room.
However, the early indications are seemingly positive in the sense that Carlos doesn’t appear to have done any significant damage, as had it been more serious, the Villa medical staff would have surely alerted Emery to it immediately after the game.
“The injury of Diego Carlos (frustrated him most),” Emery is quoted as saying by the Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell. “It’s not a big injury but it changed our gameplan.
“Hopefully not a big injury. We added and joined Clement, trying to help us eventually and I think with him and other players we have to be stronger than today.”
We will of course have to wait for further scans and tests to determine the full extent of the problem, but with the international break ahead now, Carlos will at least have a fortnight or so to recover and work towards being available to face Crystal Palace on September 16.
Having added Clement Lenglet on loan from Barcelona this past week, that could prove to be a vital addition to ensure we have enough competition and depth moving forward, especially if we continue to suffer injury blows.
Carlos impressed against Hibernian and Burnley though, and so it’s certainly hoped that he will be at Emery’s disposal once the break has concluded, or at the very least that his injury won’t keep him sidelined for a significant period of time.
Villa have a hectic schedule coming up later this month with Carabao Cup and Europa Conference League fixtures to contend with too, and so we’ll need as close to a fully-fit squad as possible to be as competitive as we can be.