Ajax team news: Former Spurs man to miss Aston Villa Europa Conference League clash

England midfielder Jordan Henderson is in contention to play against Aston Villa in the UEFA Europa Conference League this week.

The 33-year-old moved to the Netherlands in January after a six-month stint at Al-Ettifaq, and last month's draw has presented him with an opportunity to return to England for club football. He played for Sunderland, Coventry and Liverpool from 2008 to 2023, and is an 81-cap Three Lions international, but is now tasked with bringing down the Villains.

Henderson played and captained Ajax to a 2-0 defeat over FC Utrecht having been an unused substitute a week prior in the loss to AZ Alkmaar. The success on Sunday was Henderson's first win since joining and now he'll be pushing for a start against Villa, a team he has played against 22 times, winning 13 of them.

Right-back Anton Gaaei is a doubt for Ajax after being forced off after just 36 minutes, and that was a tactical change from the manager. He will return to training this week, but having been given more of a playing role than he would have expected having joined from Viborg, he will be carefully managed having received criticism of social media, prompting him to delete his platforms.

"Anton was completely mentally exhausted," said head coach John van 't Schip.

"It is his first year, he comes from Denmark from a mid-table team. He was brought here to initially play a lot for Jong Ajax. He soon joined the first team due to injuries to Rensch, among others.

"I sat down with him and the medical people. After consultation, we decided that it would be better to take him out for a while. He will join us again tomorrow, and he thought that was the right choice."

Steven Berghuis remains a doubt having missed the last three game. The 32-year-old right-sided winger has been important to the side this season with 10 assists and seven goals. Former Spurs winger Steven Bergwijn who plays on the opposite flank has been out for the last four games with a hamstring injury.

Centre-back Josip Sutalo suffered an injury in training and missed their win at the weekend.