Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed that both Emiliano Martinez and Youri Tielemans will undergo further tests on their respective injuries on Sunday.
Tielemans limped off after just 27 minutes in our 2-2 draw with Chelsea on Saturday night, with the Belgian international appearing to be holding his groin area.
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Having beaten the ground in frustration after falling to his back, his initial reaction indicated that he knew it was a serious concern and so he may well now miss time with a big month ahead of us.
Naturally, it’s hoped that the scans and tests reveal that it isn’t as bad as he first feared, and the same goes for Martinez who was replaced by Robin Olsen at half-time.
The Villa goalkeeper was seen having his hamstring treated during a break in play as Tielemans was being attended to by the medical staff, but he was able to continue and complete the opening 45 minutes.
However, he did not return after the break, and although he’s suspended for the first leg of our Europa Conference League semi-final tie against Olympiacos next Thursday anyway, it’s hoped that he won’t be sidelined by the injury beyond that.
Speaking after the game, Emery revealed that both players will undergo further tests, but he naturally added that he hopes that neither have suffered a serious setback.
“Tomorrow we will test him [Martinez],” the Villa boss said, as per the Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell. “And with the injury with Tielemans we will wait for tomorrow. Hopefully not a lot.
“Martinez is very important – that’s clear. He saves us a lot. But Robin saved us in minute 90 against Palmer.”
With long-term absentees Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia, Boubacar Kamara and Jacob Ramsey already missing, coupled with Alex Moreno and Nicolo Zaniolo being sidelined currently too, the last thing that Villa needed was to suffer additional blows to further deplete the matchday squad.
Hopefully the news is positive though and they won’t miss much time, if any, as we could certainly do with having all the options possible to be at Emery’s disposal for a crunch run of fixtures to conclude the current season.
