Aston Villa face AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night, and Unai Emery has provided our latest team news.
Group E is finely poised after three games, with Villa currently sitting in second place with six points after our impressive win over Alkmaar last time out.
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A win in the reverse fixture will undoubtedly put us in a strong position to advance, and so the expectation is that Emery will go with a strong starting line-up to try and achieve our objective as swiftly as possible.
Nevertheless, aside from having some injury doubts, there is also the need to get back to having a fully-fit squad as soon as possible in order to have the depth needed to continue to compete on multiple fronts.
Speaking ahead of Thursday’s game, the Villa boss provided welcome news on the injury front with Matty Cash, Alex Moreno and Jhon Duran all potentially set to feature.
“He (Matty Cash) is ready. He had a small problem but he’s available,” Emery told the media, as per VillaTV. “Alex Moreno is close to start playing minutes again because he’s feeling very well.
“Jacob Ramsey, after the next international break I think he’s going to be available to start training with the players and to be close to being in the squad for the matches.”
The Express and Star’s Matt Maher added that Duran is also expected to be available for selection, and so that will bolster our options up top.
Cash was a possible doubt after he went off in our defeat at Nottingham Forest on Sunday with a shoulder issue, but it’s a boost to learn that he has avoided a setback that could have sidelined him.
Time will tell if he starts in this one though, or if Emery opts to go with Diego Carlos as part of having three centre-halves in his backline alongside Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres.
Meanwhile, Moreno has yet to feature this season as he has continued to recover and work his way back from the hamstring injury he suffered at the end of last season, while Duran has been in and out of the squad in recent weeks with injury issues of his own.
It’s also great news to hear that we should have Ramsey back soon after the international break concludes, and so combined with Moreno’s return, our left side will no doubt be a lot stronger as he head into the festive period.