Aston Villa boss Unai Emery confirmed that Marcus Rashford missed our FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace due to injury.
The 27-year-old has made an important impact for us since joining on loan from Manchester United in January, contributing four goals and six assists in 17 appearances.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Crystal Palace: Woeful display ends in FA Cup disappointment
However, he was a notable absentee this weekend at Wembley, as he wasn’t named in the Villa matchday squad for our encounter with Palace.
Early reports suggested that it was due to injury, and Emery confirmed that was indeed the case as he spoke to the media after our bitterly disappointing and frustrating defeat.
“He is injured,” Emery confirmed, as per BirminghamLive. “He got injured this week. It is his hamstring.
“We are going to test him each match to see how he is progressing. Probably some weeks that he can be not available.”
Rashford won’t be eligible to face his parent club on the last day of the Premier League season, and so he essentially has three more games to feature for Villa in our upcoming encounters with Fulham, Bournemouth and Tottenham.
Given it’s a hamstring injury, Villa will have to be cautious to avoid aggravating the issue and extending his spell on the sidelines, and so it has to be questioned as whether or not he will feature for us again this season, and perhaps at all given his loan spell will come to an end this summer.
It’s a damaging blow for Emery given how effective Rashford has been in adding a new dynamic to our attack, while it has given Ollie Watkins an opportunity to rest, and also raise his game amid frustration over his limited role.
He’ll now have the remaining games to start and make his point though it seems with Rashford now sidelined, but it’s hoped that we can at least see him put on a Villa shirt one more time as we try to salvage our campaign and secure a top-five finish to qualify for the Champions League next season.
