Aston Villa take on Bournemouth in the Premier League this weekend, and Unai Emery has provided our latest team news ahead of the encounter.
With just three games remaining this season, Villa know that it may take three consecutive wins to finish the campaign to give ourselves a chance of qualifying for the Champions League, as there is ground to make up on our rivals in the race for a top-five finish.
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Despite recent setbacks, we’re in relatively good form and belief will be high that we can still achieve our objective, but our hopes will certainly have taken a hit over the past week or so amid injury setbacks.
Marcus Rashford isn’t expected to feature for us again this season after suffering a hamstring injury prior to our FA Cup clash with Crystal Palace, while reports this week suggested that Youri Tielemans is set to join him on the sidelines as he sustained a muscle injury and is a major doubt to return in time before the campaign concludes.
It had been hoped that Emery perhaps had more positive official news in his pre-match press conference on Friday and to confirm that there were no further setbacks in the squad, and there was a more optimistic sense after his comments on Tielemans in particular.
“He’s injured and he’s not available for tomorrow,” Emery said, as per VillaTV, while also confirming that beyond Tielemans and Rashford we have no further injury issues this weekend. “We will test him again next week. It’s a small injury and we will test him again next week. He’s not available for tomorrow.”
On Marcus Rashford, he added: “I don’t know. He is not available for tomorrow.”
The fact that Tielemans will be tested again next week gives hope that he can potentially feature again either against Tottenham or Manchester United, and given how influential and impactful he has been for us throughout the season, it will be a huge boost to have him available again if possible.
Further, having avoided any additional injury issues, that still gives the Villa boss plenty of options and depth to use alternative tactical solutions if needed, and it’s hoped that plays a key part in our bid to secure three points this weekend.
As for Rashford, it didn’t sound as positive, particularly given he won’t be able to face his parent club in our final game of the campaign, and so it’s hoped that we can at least recover Tielemans to give us a lift in what is a hugely decisive three weeks in our season.