With the Aston Villa squad resuming training on Monday, there was good news for Unai Emery as he welcomed back two more players.
Now that the World Cup has concluded and we’ve played all of our scheduled mid-season friendlies, the focus within the group is now fully on Liverpool’s visit to Villa Park on Boxing Day.
READ MORE: Five talking points as Villa fall to friendly defeat vs Villarreal
It’s hoped that the squad get a solid week of training in with no fresh setbacks, while we wait to see when our World Cup winner Emi Martinez joins up with his teammates.
For now though, there was good news on Monday as seen in the images below, as both Morgan Sanson and Jacob Ramsey were spotted coming out for training with the rest of the group.
Sanson missed the warm-weather training camp and fixtures in UAE over the past fortnight, while Ramsey has been absent more recently and played no part in the friendly against Villarreal last Thursday.
In turn, there was concern over whether or not the pair would be sidelined for a significant period of time, with Sanson still fighting for minutes while Ramsey has been a pivotal figure since Emery took charge.
Fortunately though, it appears as though both are back on track and it’s vital that we’ve seen them to start the week, giving them a full six or seven days to put themselves back in contention to face Liverpool, or at least secure a place on the bench.
With a hectic schedule ahead given the World Cup break, Emery will need to call upon his entire squad as we also prepare for the FA Cup, and so Sanson and Ramsey returning to the fold will bolster our midfield options and increase the competition heading into our first game back.
Time will tell if Ramsey can force his way back into the starting XI immediately having fallen behind the rest of the group during his absence, but particularly with the January transfer window fast approaching, Sanson will want to cement his place in the Villa squad before Emery gets a chance to bring in reinforcements.
Sanson ✅
JJ ✅🙌🏽🟣🔵#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/k40Edj8tPd
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) December 19, 2022
