Aston Villa host Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday, and Unai Emery has provided our latest team news ahead of the encounter.
Villa were victorious in midweek in the Champions League after seeing off Viking in a 3-1 win, and it continued our impressive recent form as we’ve put our poor start to the campaign behind us.
However, this will undoubtedly be a tough test with Man City leading the way in the Premier League table, having won all seven of their games thus far.
READ MORE: Alysson announces himself as Villa defeat Viking
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Ideally, we would have a fully-fit squad available at Emery’s disposal, but while we’ll be without some long-term absentees still, there will be a late fitness test for Johan Manzambi who missed the win over Viking after picking up a calf issue against Newcastle United last weekend.
“We are training now in the afternoon,” Emery told the media, as per Villa TV.
“Still being some players clearly out like Onana, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Ruggeri.
“Other players we will see how they are after the match we played on Wednesday. Some were in some pain.
“I can’t tell you now until after the training session this afternoon.”
Given how impressive and influential he looked prior to his injury setback, it will be a major boost for us if Manzambi is able to recover in time for this encounter, but ultimately if he’s not ready and there is a risk of aggravating the problem, it’s a risk that Villa shouldn’t take.
With Alysson impressing on Wednesday night along with Ibrahim Mbaye, Emiliano Buendia and others, who are all capable of providing support behind Nicolas Jackson in the final third, we have the quality and depth to cope with injuries, but with our busy schedule continuing across multiple competitions, it would be much preferred if we had a full squad available for selection sooner rather than later.
Villa currently sit in 12th place in the league standings, but a win this weekend coupled with results elsewhere going our way, could potentially see us move into the top half of the table, as we look to continue to build confidence and momentum in our recovery after a difficult opening few weeks of the campaign.