Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed that Leon Bailey will face a spell out of action after suffering a hamstring injury in our win over Southampton.
The 27-year-old pulled up in the second half on Saturday afternoon, and after requesting treatment, it became clear that it was a hamstring problem.
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It’s been a difficult season thus far for Bailey as he has struggled to hit top form, contributing just three goals in 20 appearances across all competitions.
However, there have been better signs from the Jamaican international in recent weeks and he remains a pivotal option for Emery who continues to show faith in him, and so his absence will now be a blow for Villa, particularly with Jacob Ramsey still sidelined too.
Speaking after the game, the Villa boss confirmed what the issue was, and put an early timeline on Bailey’s recovery.
“It is his hamstring. He didn’t feel it a lot, but I think minimum one, two, three weeks,” he told the media in his post-match press conference.
In a worst-case scenario, Bailey will miss three weeks, and that means he’s now ruled out of games against RB Leipzig, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, Newcastle Utd and possibly Brighton.
Should that prove to be accurate, that’s a brutal blow for Villa as we’ll certainly miss his pace and attacking qualities in the final third through a vital period in the campaign, and so it’s hoped that he can recover on the quicker end of that touted timeline.
Importantly, Emery does still have options in his absence with Matty Cash able to play in a more advanced role while Jaden Philogene will push for more minutes, but the most likely solution will be John McGinn moving across and thus allowing Morgan Rogers to play through the middle consistently.
We’re still light on the left flank though with no Ramsey, and so that’s potentially where Philogene comes into contention too, or perhaps one of Youri Tielemans or Ross Barkley can play further up the field.