Aston Villa have a new injury concern in team captain John McGinn. He missed out on yesterday’s 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur with a thigh injury. However, it doesn’t sound too serious, and he should be ready to go on Thursday night when Nottingham Forest comes in for the second leg of their UEL semi-final tie. As Thursday is a cup semi-final, with the stakes higher than usual, it appears that he was left out of the Sunday league fixture for more precautionary reasons. Unai Emery wants to make sure he’ll have his skipper available for midweek.
This is especially true given how John McGinn, Unai Emery and company are down 0-1 on aggregate in this tie.
UEFA Europa League Semi-finals
Aston Villa at Nottingham Forest: Leg 2 of 2
Aggregate: Nottingham Forest leads 1-0
Kickoff: Thursday, May 7, 8pm, Villa Park, Birmingham , UK
Team News for Both Sides
“John McGinn, he was confident yesterday, but not feeling 100 percent,” Emery said in postgame. “So we decided not to take a risk, and he’s not going to be involved today.”
Meanwhile with Amadou Onana, this past Friday saw Emery rule him out for Sunday, due to a calf injury. Scans were conducted, and once the results of those scans are made public, we’ll better be able to assess his prospects for featuring on Thursday.
“Difficult,” said Emery at his weekly presser on Friday.
“He has a scan and we will see the consequences after it and how he is feeling.”
Shifting gears to the Tricky Trees, they entered tonight’s blowout win at Chelsea with five players in the “late fitness test” or “50/50 proposition to feature” category: Jair Cunha, Murillo, Ibrahim Sangare, Olaoluwa Aina and Dan Ndoye. The only one to see action (or even make it into the matchday squad for that matter) today was Cunha.
The other four did not, so they are all doubts, once again, for this upcoming match on Thursday.
Though it is worth noting that Forest fielded an intentionally weakened side tonight versus Chelsea, in order to prep for this continental clash on Thursday. So some of those guys might indeed be fit, but they were rested on Monday, for priority sake.
Meanwhile Wily Boly, Callum Hudson-Odoi, John Victor and Nicolo Savona remain sidelined for the rest of the season. If there are any new fitness/injury concerns/updates to emerge after the 3-1 win at Chelsea, we will be sure to update you with those.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, Ratings and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.