Aston Villa face Tottenham in the Premier League on Friday night, and Unai Emery has provided our latest team news ahead of the encounter.
For Villa, the task is clear. To have a chance of securing a top-five finish and qualify for the Champions League, we must win both of our remaining league games.
READ MORE: Villa face crucial decision on future of top talent amid impressive loan stint
In addition, we’ll have to hope for a favour elsewhere, but Emery and the players know that if we fail to beat Tottenham this week and Manchester United to follow, our chances become increasingly slim and it will be highly unlikely that we return to Europe’s top table next season.
The Basque coach’s challenge was made more complicated over the past couple of weeks after injury setbacks for Marcus Rashford and Youri Tielemans, and so it was hoped that there was more positive news on that front heading into our next crunch fixture.
Jacob Ramsey won’t feature either as he’s suspended following his red card at Bournemouth last weekend, but the good news is that Emery has confirmed that the rest of the group is available to face Spurs, and so avoiding any further setbacks is a major boost as we still have plenty of quality depth and alternative tactical solutions if needed.
“Youri and Marcus tomorrow are not available,” Emery said, as per BirminghamLive. “Ramsey is suspended. The other players are available.”
Asked if Tielemans will return against United, Emery said: “We have to do each step forward, testing and analysing how he is recovering. I don’t know if Tielemans will be available physically. They [Rashford and Tielemans] are working in the training facilities every day and feeling better.”
That effectively ends Rashford’s season now as he’ll be ineligible to face his parent club on the last day of the season, and so it remains to be seen if he’s played his last game in a Villa shirt or not as the club have a decision to make on his future in the summer.
Of course, it’s hoped that Tielemans is able to recover in time to face Man Utd, but given the length of his stint on the sidelines at that point, it’s questionable as to whether he’ll be fit or sharp enough to have the same level of influence that he’s had all season long, and so Villa’s mindset and approach surely has to be that we’ll have to do it without him.
With Amadou Onana stepping up in our win over Bournemouth and with Donyell Malen potentially coming into the side in the attacking third with Rashford and Ramsey unavailable, it’s hoped we’ve got more than enough quality and firepower to get the desired results in the next week or so.
