Aston Villa face Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday, and Unai Emery has provided our latest team news ahead of the encounter.
Villa will be looking to bounce back after a bitterly disappointing defeat at Man Utd during the week, and so Emery would have been hoping for good news on the injury front to give us the best possible chance of doing so.
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Unfortunately, we’ve lost another key player for an extended period of time after Lucas Digne limped off in the second half at Old Trafford, with the Villa boss confirming that the Frenchman is expected to be out for several weeks now with a hamstring injury.
Further, while Pau Torres returned to the squad to make the bench in Manchester, Emery conceded that it’s unlikely that he’ll be ready to start against Burnley, with Clement Lenglet and Alex Moreno expected to come into the starting XI.
“Lucas Digne is injured, he’s going to be out of the team for some weeks,” Emery said, as per VillaTV. “He was playing very good and he was being very competitive but we have to try now to replace him with Álex Moreno, after his long injury. I think Álex is ready, and we will hope Lucas is coming back in 20-25 days.
“Pau is not 100%, his injury is not big but it’s not available for him to play 100%.
“We are playing with Clément Lenglet and we are having the same performances collectively with him as with Pau.
“I think tomorrow he’s not available again 100%, we will wait for the next weeks, and we’re going to play with Lenglet because we can get the performances like I want.
Meanwhile, it’s added by The Athletic that Robin Olsen remains unavailable with an injury issue of his own, and although Matty Cash returns from his suspension, Boubacar Kamara will serve the final game of his ban.
Although we have quality and depth to step in and cover those absences, it’s far from ideal to be without Pau in particular given his influence in both phases of the game and along with Kamara, we’ve undoubtedly missed their presence in the side.
Lenglet does a good job in replicating that impact to an extent with his qualities though, and Moreno’s return on a consistent basis will be a big boost for how we want to play. Time will tell which option Emery goes with in midfield after Leander Dendoncker’s inclusion last time out.
Regardless, we’ll hopefully see a reaction and secure all three points this weekend and get back on track after a disappointing week.