Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has been handed a fitness boost as Nicolo Zaniolo has resumed training after missing out at the weekend.
The Italian international was absent from the matchday squad for our win over Tottenham on Sunday, and so there was doubt over his involvement in midweek as we face Legia Warszawa in the Europa Conference League.
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As per Matt Maher, Zaniolo returned to training earlier in the week and is in contention to feature, thus giving Emery another important option as he weighs up who will make his starting line-up on Thursday night.
Further, as seen in Villa’s post below, the 24-year-old was with the rest of the group as our preparations continued on Wednesday, and so he’ll hope to be included in the squad and get some minutes.
Although he’s shown glimpses of his quality and is a functional piece in the side when involved, thus earning 14 appearances from Emery thus far, Zaniolo’s search for his first goal or assist in a Villa shirt goes on.
In turn, he’ll be itching to be involved in midweek to try and get off the mark, particularly given that we’re getting more options back from injury now with Jacob Ramsey making his comeback at the weekend.
Importantly, Emery also noted that there are no fresh injury concerns heading into this encounter, and so aside from long-term absentees Emiliano Buendia and Tyrone Mings, we look to be in a good place in terms of the squad.
“Today we were training with everybody, feeling good,” he told the media, as per VillaTV. “We are going to play a lot of matches: tomorrow, Sunday, next week another two matches.
“We have to be very clinical in how we can take minutes with the players. Some players are coming back after their injuries and some players may feel tired after the effort we did on Sunday.
“Tomorrow morning we are going to meet and I’m going to decide how we are.”
It’s hoped that the likes of Ramsey, Alex Moreno and Zaniolo can get minutes to build up their match fitness, but Emery has a balancing act to keep in mind given the significance of the game.
Ideally, Villa will want to top Group E and advance directly to the knockout stage without having to feature in the playoffs round, and given we’re level with Legia at the top of the standings currently, this meeting could prove to be crucial as they have the edge after beating us in Poland in September.
So while it’s good news that we’re close to a fully-fit squad, it’s vital that even if we do rotate, we secure all three points on Thursday night and go into the final matchday in a strong position to finish top of the group.
Buongiorno! 🥶 pic.twitter.com/N3BU27pLm8
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) November 29, 2023