Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has hinted that we could receive an injury boost from Youri Tielemans in our upcoming games.
The 26-year-old suffered a groin injury in our draw with Chelsea just over a week ago, and has subsequently missed games against Olympiacos and Brighton since.
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His absence in itself has been a blow given his influence on the side with his technical ability and composure helping us play the style of football that Emery wants, but coupled with injuries elsewhere, it has further limited his options as we try to compete on two fronts with fatigue becoming an increasingly prominent factor.
While no official timeline has been put on his recovery and return, the Villa boss has suggested that the Belgian international could be pushing to feature again this week after what he described was a ‘short’ injury.
“The players with the short injuries like Tielemans, Moreno and Zaniolo, it is very important because we need players fresh as well to mix with matches at the weekend and on a Thursday,” he said at his post-match press conference.
“Alex Moreno is coming back, hopefully Youri Tielemans now after Morgan Rogers is out.”
Moreno provided a timely boost on Sunday in our loss at Brighton as he got minutes off the bench in the latter stages, and so that will give us depth and competition at left-back with Lucas Digne having to take on a heavy workload in his absence.
However, we could certainly do with a lift in midfield given both our limited options and tired players, and with Nicolo Zaniolo also returning in midweek before having to sit out this weekend, if Emery is putting them together with Tielemans, that would give the impression that he’s on the verge of returning to the fold.
The Villa squad will likely have been given Monday off as we try to rest and recover ahead of our trip to Greece, but all eyes will be on group training on Tuesday and specifically whether or not Tielemans is back working with the rest of his teammates, as that will be the biggest indication yet that he’s ready to return.
On a separate note, it’s hoped that Rogers hasn’t now suffered a serious setback of his own as he was seen holding his hamstring area before coming off after 26 minutes at Brighton.
