Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has provided a fitness update on his squad ahead of our clash with Wolves on Wednesday night.
Following our win over Tottenham on Sunday, spirits will be high within the squad, but the focus will now be on backing that result up with another three points in an important midweek game.
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With our FA Cup tie against Stevenage fast approaching at the weekend too, the fixture schedule is becoming hectic, and so Emery would ideally like to have a full squad at his disposal to be able to compete as well as possible on multiple fronts.
Unfortunately, it looks as though we could have some absentees on Wednesday, but there was a more positive update on Emi Martinez, who is seemingly set to come back into the starting XI after settling for the bench last weekend.
Emery on Emi Martinez
“He’ll train again with the team,” Emery told the media, as per BirminghamLive. “I think he’s going to be ready after his rest and after the emotion he had with winning this World Cup. I think, for us, it’s a very important thing. We can be proud of him. Now, his focus is 100 per cent with us at Aston Villa.”
Emery on Jacob Ramsey
“He is so close. He’s starting to try and be with us this week. I don’t know exactly if he can take some minutes against Wolverhampton or next week in the FA Cup. I don’t know.”
Emery on Douglas Luiz, John McGinn
“I don’t know exactly. Hopefully, it’s not going to be a big injury.”
Based on Emery’s comments above, it does sound as though Martinez will replace Robin Olsen between the posts against Wolves, and that is a huge boost given how important he is for us.
However, this game may well come too soon for Ramsey – who is coming back from a hamstring injury – and so it’s hoped that he’s able to get minutes at the weekend, while it seems unlikely that either Luiz or McGinn will be risked after both picked up knocks against Spurs.
If that is the case, that in turn creates a selection headache for the Villa boss in midfield, as while Matty Cash could be deployed on the right wing ahead of Ashley Young in place of McGinn, if Luiz is absent too, that could open the door for Philippe Coutinho to get a fresh chance or perhaps even one of Morgan Sanson or Marvelous Nakamba.
Leander Dendoncker wasn’t spotted in the latest round of training pictures on Tuesday, and so we face an intriguing wait to see what Emery goes with as we look to keep our good form going and maintain the level we set on Sunday.
As the Villa boss continues to try and implement his style and identity on this team, it’s important for those coming into the side that they fit in seamlessly and do the job needed and we may well face that test tomorrow night.