Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has delivered positive news on the injury front with updates on Johan Manzambi, Brian Madjo and Tammy Abraham.
Villa suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat in our Premier League season opener against Brighton on Sunday, and in addition to the upheaval following some notable exits and a lack of match fitness for some, the absence of our injured players was also a damaging factor behind the result.
With no out-and-out striker available, Emery was forced to field a tandem of Emiliano Buendia and Ross Barkley in our attack, and as expected, the pair struggled to make a positive impact on the game beyond the early stages as we capitulated in the first half.
READ MORE: Villa’s early-season woes return after chastening Brighton defeat
WATCH: How shambolic Villa defending led to heavy Brighton defeatÂ
Subscribe to Talk Villa+ below for ad-free weekly newsletters, exclusive articles and much more sent directly to you. The TalkVilla podcast is also now available, have a listen, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or YouTube. UTV!
While it remains to be seen when Ollie Watkins gets his desired move to Al Hilal, Villa will no doubt move in the transfer market to sign a replacement ahead of the deadline, but until those pieces fall into place and with any new arrival needing time to settle and adapt, the Villa boss will need to find an internal solution for our upcoming games.
In turn, it was a huge boost to hear him confirm that Abraham is close to rejoining his teammates for group training this week, as per The Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell, as although he struggled in pre-season and hasn’t made the desired impact since his return to the club in January, he is more than capable of playing as a focal point up top to lead the line and give us an important presence in the final third.
It’s hoped that he’s available to face Arsenal next week, but in a bigger boost given how impressive he looked over the summer, Madjo is said to be a few days away from starting group training again too after he suffered an injury following his superb display against Paris Saint-Germain in our UEFA Super Cup meeting earlier this month.
Further, Emery confirmed that Manzambi has started work on the grass and the Swiss international is a couple of weeks away from rejoining the group as he steps up his recovery from a knee injury that he sustained at the World Cup.
Getting Madjo and Manzambi back from injury in particular will be a massive boost as it could transform our attack moving forward with both players having key roles to play, and coupled with our other summer recruits getting up to speed and breaking into the starting line-up as well as any additional reinforcements that arrive between now and the end of the transfer window, it’s hoped that our starting line-up looks significantly stronger very soon.
