Aston Villa suffered a 2-1 defeat to West Ham on Sunday, and Steven Gerrard was left with injury concerns to Lucas Digne and Douglas Luiz.
A late goal from Jacob Ramsey wasn’t enough to come away with anything from the London Stadium, as after a hard-fought first half, the hosts scored twice after the break to take control of the game.
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Villa will be disappointed and frustrated to be left empty-handed as we put ourselves in a position to get something from the encounter, but ultimately we’ll now have to reset and prepare to try and bounce back against Arsenal next weekend.
It remains to be seen if we’ll be missing key players or not, as Luiz suffered a nasty cut to his face after a wayward boot caught him in the first half, while Villa were forced into an early change as Digne appeared to be clutching his hamstring in the early stages.
Given the relatively quick turnaround and the likely desire to avoid making the injuries worse, it seems unlikely either will feature against Arsenal, but we’ll wait for updates during the course of the week to see how their setbacks improve.
As noted by The Express and Star’s Matt Maher in his tweet below, Digne will undergo an MRI scan on a muscle injury to determine the seriousness of the blow, while Luiz will require facial surgery.
It’s hoped that Digne’s issue isn’t serious enough to sideline him for too long, but it’s expected that Ashley Young will fill in for him again on Saturday, while Luiz could play relatively soon after he undergoes his surgery depending on the seriousness of the procedure.
Lucas Digne will undergo an MRI scan on a muscle injury. Steven Gerrard hopeful it is not too serious. Boss says Douglas Luiz will require facial surgery after the boot to his face. "No kissing for him tonight," says Gerrard. #avfc
— matt maher (@mjmarr_star) March 13, 2022