Aston Villa face Luton Town on Saturday evening, and Unai Emery has provided our latest team news ahead of the Premier League encounter.
Villa will go in search of a third consecutive league win this weekend after seeing off Nottingham Forest and Fulham previously, but it won’t be easy against a Luton side scrapping to escape the relegation zone.
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In turn, it had been hoped that there would be good news on the injury front ahead of the clash, and Emery has revealed that we could have an important double boost with Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa recovering from injury.
Torres was forced off in our win over Forest while Konsa has been sidelined since our victory over Sheffield Utd last month. Given how important the pair are for us in both phases of the game, it would certainly provide a huge lift for all concerned if they are able to feature.
“I will include them in the squad for tomorrow, but I don’t know if they are going to be available 100 per cent to play from the beginning,” he told the media, as per VillaTV. “I will decide tomorrow morning, speaking with them and how they feel for a very important match.
“Of course, it’s a very tough match, a lot of duels, a very demanding match.”
Emery added that Jhon Duran remains unavailable with Diego Carlos, Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia and Boubacar Kamara also sidelined, and so it’s hoped that we have enough quality and depth to secure all three points this weekend and be in good shape heading into our midweek European encounter with Ajax.
Villa won two and lost two in our previous four games without Konsa across all competitions, conceding eight goals in those outings.
Particularly with Torres in and out of the side too with his own injury troubles, it has undoubtedly impacted our performance level and form, and so it’s vital that we get them back in the heart of the defence as soon as possible.
Ideally, we’ll see them both restored to the Villa XI on Saturday, but whether it’s off the bench or returning to action in midweek, we’ll hopefully see them feature again sooner rather than later.