Aston Villa travel to Brighton on Sunday, and Unai Emery has provided our latest team news ahead of the encounter at the Amex Stadium.
It’s a crucial weekend in the Champions League qualification race, as a win for Villa coupled with defeat for Tottenham at Liverpool on Sunday would see us secure fourth place.
READ MORE: Return of Villa trio will be critical in restoring key Emery principle vs Olympiacos
Following the disappointing defeat to Olympiacos in the Europa Conference League in midweek, the Villa squad will travel to Brighton with a desire to bounce back, and if we can seal a momentous achievement this weekend, it would certainly give all concerned a major boost heading into the second leg in Greece.
In order to have the best possible chance of competing across both fronts in the next seven days though, Emery would have been hoping for good news on the injury front, particularly given how many key individuals we’ve been without in recent games.
While he didn’t give much away on the likes of Youri Tielemans and Alex Moreno, there was potentially positive news on Emiliano Martinez, who picked up a hamstring injury in our draw with Chelsea last weekend.
“Tomorrow is the training session we can have more information on players who played yesterday and others who had small injuries. Until tomorrow it is impossible to know it,” he told the media, as per BirminghamLive.
“Tomorrow is the key day. In case he [Emi Martinez] will feel comfortable and without risk, he could be available.”
Given how important he is for us and how much we miss his presence when he’s absent, getting Martinez back alone would be a huge boost with Robin Olsen struggling on Thursday night as we conceded four more goals.
Martinez’s return would undoubtedly settle things down at the back and give us more presence and leadership, and it could prove to be fundamental to the result of the game given how much he’s better suited to the way Emery wants us to play.
Long-term absentees Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia, Boubacar Kamara and Jacob Ramsey remain sidelined, but that quartet aside, it’s hoped that we’ve got a full group to select from for another big test.