Onana, Torres & Mings: Latest Aston Villa injury news ahead of Nottingham Forest clash

Aston Villa’s impressive winning run may have come to an abrupt end at the Emirates on Tuesday evening, but Unai Emery won’t have time to dwell on a difficult day in north London – his side are back in action on Saturday when they face Nottingham Forest at Villa Park.

Villa should be able to welcome at least two of the players who were absent for the 4-1 loss to Arsenal back to the line-up this weekend, but Emery also faces an anxious wait for news on the status of Amadou Onana, who was forced to withdraw at half-time during midweek due to an apparent injury.

With that fresh worry in mind, we’ve collected all of the latest Aston Villa injury news and availability updates below ahead of Saturday’s match, along with the absent players’ expected return dates when available.

How bad is Amadou Onana’s injury for Aston Villa?

Onana first went down injured with less than half an hour on the clock at the Emirates, with physios tending to his right leg – and while he tried to play on, the Belgian midfielder was eventually replaced at the break by John McGinn.

Emery confirmed after the game that the 24-year-old sustained an injury, which some outlets (including The Guardian) report to be a hamstring problem. The severity of the issue is not yet clear, with further tests expected to be carried out this week.

Emery told the media that Onana’s departure was a turning point in the match: “We did a very good first half, but the first goal changed everything and after it they pushed it, and we had as well the injury of Amadou Onana and we lost everything in the middle. They had the power and they showed it, so we finished losing.”

With test results pending the timeline for Onana’s return is unknown, but there will be concern about the frequency with which the former Everton man has been forced to miss time with hamstring problems – he missed eight matches earlier this season with a similar issue, and a total of 13 games in the 2024/25 season due to hamstring injuries. Emery will be crossing his fingers that this is only a minor issue and not a recurrence of more serious problems.

Two return but Pau Torres and Tyrone Mings still doubts against Nottingham Forest

Elsewhere, Aston Villa may be forced to make do without centre-backs Pau Torres (calf) and Tyrone Mings (hamstring) once again, although they are both expected to be available soon.

Emery told the media prior to the recent 2-1 win over Manchester United that the pair were around two weeks away from returning, which suggests that they have at least some chance of being involved this weekend – but neither has publicly been announced as having returned to training and prior to the Arsenal match, Emery simply said that Torres and Mings are “continuing their process” as they rehabilitate. Both are major doubts for Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off but are likely to return by the end of next week barring setbacks. Both are likely to be ready in time for the away game against Crystal Palace.

Elsewhere, Aston Villa will get two important players back from suspension for the Nottingham Forest game, with Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara both available again after serving one-match bans for collecting five bookings across the Premier League season.

The only other player who may be unavailable for Saturday is summer signing Evann Guessand. The winger remains on international duty with the Ivory Coast, who have advanced to the round of 16 in the Africa Cup of Nations. They play Gabon on New Year’s Eve, meaning that if they are knocked out then Guessand could theoretically return to England in time to be involved this weekend, but the likelihood remains that Villa must wait a little longer for the former OGC Nice man to return to the line-up.