Aston Villa boss Unai Emery allayed concerns over defender Tyrone Mings as he appeared to be struggling late on against Brighton.
Villa were held to a 2-2 draw by the Seagulls on Monday night in our Premier League clash, and so it was a frustrating way to end 2024 as we lacked a clinical edge up front and continue to leak too many poor goals which in turn is costing us points.
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While focus will quickly shift to Leicester City at home on Saturday, Villa suffered a big blow in the first half of this encounter as Pau Torres was forced off after just 20 minutes.
Speaking to the media after the game, Emery conceded that it may well be a broken metatarsal for the Spaniard, and so he’s likely to be facing an extended period on the sidelines.
In turn, that makes the update on Mings below even more important, as the Villa stalwart is now in line to play a key role in our upcoming games, and it was crucial to rule out any injury problems of his own as he appeared to be struggling with a calf injury in the closing stages.
“He will be OK,” Emery said, as quoted by BBC Sport. “He was just tired. He has his process of getting minutes and getting confidence. hopefully, we will be OK for Saturday.”
Emery will speak to the media ahead of the Leicester clash later in the week, and so it’s hoped that we receive a positive update on Mings either in that pre-match press conference or preferably earlier, to determine his availability for the weekend.
Given Villa have now conceded 10 goals in our last five games and have failed to keep a clean sheet in that run, it had been felt that Emery may well need to make changes in defence and bring in Mings to try and shore things up.
It appears as though that will now be an enforced change after Torres suffered a likely setback, and so there will be significant responsibility and pressure on Mings to step in and fill that void as best he can.
Firstly though, it’s hoped that he is given the green light by the Villa medical staff to be included at the weekend and potentially start alongside Ezri Konsa once again in the heart of our backline.