Aston Villa head into Sunday’s clash with Brentford FC only four points off the pace for the top of the table. As Villa enter the weekend, they have seven injury concerns, five of which are longer-term injury absentees: Youri Tielemans, Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn, Andres Garcia and Alysson; and we’ll cover that here.
They also have two “late fitness test” guys, in Ollie Watkins and Ross Barkley, who we covered in the last post. So let’s get it into it!
Aston Villa vs Brentford FYIs
Kickoff: Sun. Feb 1, 2pm, Villa Park, Birmingham, UK
Aston Villa Preview Material: Team News vs Brentford Latest Injury Updates
Result Probability via Google: Aston Villa 46% Draw 27% Brentford 27%
Premier League Form, Standings: Aston Villa LWDLW, 3rd, 46 pts Brentford DWWLL, 8th, 33 pts
Aston Villa Injury Updates
Youri Tielemans
He’s got an ankle injury that we’ll keep him out until mid-April.
Emery said on Wednesday that: “Tielemans is 8-10 weeks out.”
Boubacar Kamara
During that same media session, Emery told us something that we all kind of suspected, for awhile, but now have confirmation of- Kamara’s knee injury has ruled him out for the rest of the season.
“Kamara is a long time,” Emery said. “I think he’s not going to play this season.”
Andres Garcia
Emery put it bluntly and succinctly: “Andres Garcia is out for three weeks. He has a hamstring injury, a small injury.”
John McGinn
As for the team captain, he’s on a similar path to Tielemans, just a couple weeks earlier. Said Emery: “McGinn, more or less, is 6-8 weeks out.”
Alysson
His timeline for return is to be determined, as he works on recovering from a knee injury.
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, RG.org and Ratings.org. 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.