Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has provided our latest team news ahead of facing Brentford on Sunday, with both Youri Tielemans and Leon Bailey doubtful.
It’s been a gruelling schedule for Villa in recent weeks with both Premier League and Europa Conference League commitments, and it may well be starting to impact the squad.
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While both Tyrone Mings and Emiliano Buendia remain sidelined with long-term issues, Emery confirmed that neither Robin Olsen nor Bertrand Traore will be available for the trip to Brentford due to injuries of their own.
Given their limited involvement so far this season, that won’t necessarily be too big a concern, but key duo Tielemans and Bailey were absent from the squad that travelled to Zrinjski in midweek, and they may not be available on Sunday either.
“Tielemans and Leon Bailey are both doubts,” said Emery at Friday’s pre-match media conference, as per VillaTV. “Olsen is out, Traoré is out. Two players are suspended, Lucas Digne and Douglas Luiz. Long-term injuries to Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendía
“And the players who played yesterday, we’re going to wait for tomorrow.”
Crucially, Villa do have great squad depth and so we have alternative options to fill those voids. Nevertheless, potentially being without four players who have been pivotal for us so far this season will undoubtedly make Emery’s planning much more difficult.
Alex Moreno will likely solve the issue at left-back and replace Digne, while having scored his first goal for the club at Zrinjski, Nicolo Zaniolo will be itching to have the opportunity to back that up with another important contribution on Sunday.
However, with Jacob Ramsey getting his first start of the season on Thursday night and in turn he gained valuable minutes to build his fitness and sharpness back up, he’ll arguably be the preferred option to deputise for Luiz, with John McGinn perhaps moving into a more central role.
Similarly, Matty Cash had a run out in Europe and he may well be primed to fill in for Bailey on the right side, and so even though it’s always more complicated when losing players to injury or fitness concerns, Villa will hope to have enough to get a positive result at the Gtech Community Stadium.
