Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is hopeful that Leon Bailey will be available to face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League this coming week.
The 27-year-old has struggled for consistency both in terms of his fitness and form this season, and that has led to a significant drop off in his contribution in the final third having scored just two goals and provided four assists.
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That said, he has continued to play an important role for Villa as a favoured option for Emery having made 36 appearances across all competitions thus far, and so his presence has been missed by the Basque coach during his latest extended stint on the sidelines due to injury.
At a critical stage of the campaign with Villa competing on three fronts, we’re almost back to having a full-strength squad with Bailey and Ross Barkley pushing to now return too, and just as we saw against Nottingham Forest this weekend, to be able to make eight changes and still win with the quality and strength in depth we have, is a major boost to keep everyone fresh and avoid further injury setbacks by lessening the workload on key individuals.
“We did it in Preston as well,” Emery said after our win on Saturday evening, as per BBC Sport. “It is very important to manage the players we have, we are more less with the players available. Leon Bailey hopefully can be available for Paris.”
With Donyell Malen not part of our Champions League squad, that also leaves Emery with one less option in the final third, and so to have Bailey available to give us a different dynamic down the right flank with his pace and trickery, particularly in a game where we may need to soak up plenty of pressure and counter-attack, could prove to be a pivotal option to have available.
In turn, despite his struggles this season, the stronger the Villa squad is, the more options and tactical solutions Emery has, and that can only be a positive thing for our chances of continuing our current momentum and remaining in the hunt for silverware in Europe in what promises to be a highly difficult assignment in the French capital on Wednesday night.
Naturally, the focus will be on keeping ourselves in the tie going into the second leg at Villa Park, but if we can produce a big performance that this team is capable of, there is certainly the potential of returning home with much more than just that.
