Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed our latest team news ahead of our trip to Arsenal this weekend.
Villa travel to the Emirates looking to secure a fourth consecutive win across all competitions, while we’ll be hoping to produce a repeat performance of our memorable win in north London last season.
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It will certainly be a difficult challenge given Mikel Arteta’s men are once again challenging for the Premier League title and will be buoyed by their win over rivals Tottenham in midweek, and so Villa will have to be at our best in order to return home with a positive result.
Emery is without a string of key figures at the moment due to injury, but there was better news as our latest January recruit could be in line to feature and give us a boost in the final third.
“Pau Torres is still out and John McGinn is starting to train on the field, but not available for tomorrow,” Emery said in his pre-match press conference. “Barkley is still out. Diego Carlos, this morning he had a medical report and he is not feeling good. I think he is not going to be there again.”
Further, the Villa boss confirmed that Donyell Malen is available for selection, and so the Dutchman could make his debut for the club after completing his move from Borussia Dortmund earlier this week.
Despite his limited time working with his new teammates in training, it will be a boost for Emery to have another option at his disposal, and it’s hoped that Malen is at least able to get on the pitch and start adapting at some stage to speed up his settling-in process.
Elsewhere, Tyrone Mings has made a positive impact having filled the void left behind by Torres, and although it’s a blow to still be missing both McGinn and Barkley in midfield, we have the strength and quality in depth to manage without them and will hopefully be able to effectively control the game in that area on Saturday evening.
As for Carlos, he continues to be heavily linked with an exit this month, and so amid that speculation, it comes as no real surprise that he will not be involved, as although he may well have a medical concern, it’s likely that Villa don’t want to risk him at this point, with an injury likely to scupper hopes of a departure in the coming days.
