Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has delivered hugely positive news on the injury front ahead of our encounter with Everton on Sunday.
Villa travel to Goodison Park to face the Toffees hoping to solidify our top-four position in the Premier League, fending off the chasing pack to ensure we maintain our brilliant form through the second half of the campaign.
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In order to have the best possible chance of doing that, we need as close to a fully-fit squad as possible in order to have the depth and different dynamics at Emery’s disposal so that he can put together a successful game-plan week in and week out.
While we’ve struggled with injury setbacks throughout the season thus far, there was good news ahead of the Everton clash, as Emery confirmed that both Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans were back in group training this week and are likely to feature this weekend.
Meanwhile, he added that although Lucas Digne is out for this game due to a hamstring injury, it’s hoped that he could return at the end of the month after our upcoming break.
“Robin Olsen is coming back, he trained yesterday and today with us. Tomorrow, if everything goes well, he is available,” Emery told the media, as per VillaTV. “Pau Torres is with us, training with the group.
“Youri Tielemans started working with us as well this week, he’s progressively getting better. Tomorrow, if everything goes well, maybe they could both be in the squad, as well with the possibility to play.
“But, of course, we are going to try and analyse individually as well how they progress after they’ve been injured, what is the best decision with them.
“Lucas Digne is out, he’s not available for Sunday, and Bertrand Traoré is with his national team. I don’t know exactly [about when Digne could return], we’re not playing next week, we’re playing two weeks later.
“Maybe yes, but we have to be patient with his comeback.”
While Tielemans hasn’t featured since our 1-0 win over Arsenal in early December, Torres has been in and out of the squad in recent weeks as he has been recovering from an ankle knock.
Given how influential the pair have been for us so far this season, particularly Torres as he has been fundamental at the back in both phases of the game, but also Tielemans who grew into his role and was looking a key cog in the Villa side prior to his setback, it will be a huge relief to have them available again and pushing to get back into the Villa XI.
We’ve certainly missed their presence, experience and leadership, and it’s hoped that if they aren’t quite ready to start this weekend, they can at least get on at some point to log valuable minutes, build up their match fitness and reintegrate into the side to start playing an integral role in our form again moving forward.
With a quiet January transfer window expected from Villa, it will be fundamental that we have everyone back from injury for the rest of the season, aside from long-term absentees Emiliano Buendia and Tyrone Mings, as we have enough quality and depth to sustain the progress we’ve made thus far.
