Unai Emery issues promising injury update for forgotten Aston Villa star

Unai Emery has issued several Aston Villa team news titbits ahead of this Saturday’s Premier League clash with Chelsea at Villa Park.

The head coach has confirmed on-loan central defender Axel Disasi cannot feature this weekend as he’s ineligible to face his parent club but two players could make their returns from injuries barring any complications during late fitness tests.

It’s good timing to have some absentees return as Villa are currently in the middle of a rather ludicrous run of four Premier League fixtures within just 10 days. The Villans were disappointed to draw 1-1 with 10-man Ipswich Town on Sunday but responded well with a 2-2 draw against title favourites Liverpool.

Emery believed bringing forward the latter game forward from its original March 15 date - to avoid clashing with the Carabao Cup final - was unnecessary as it could’ve been slotted in later in the season. It’s been particularly frustrating for the Villa boss as the intense schedule has come at a time when several key players have been sidelined.

Rotation is preferable but it’s tricky to give the likes of Youri Tielemans and John McGinn a rest in the midfield double pivot due to injuries stacking up in that position. It’s a similar case in defence, too, with Matty Cash only just back on the right and Ezri Konsa yet to return from a hamstring problem.

BirminghamWorld asked Emery how he’s planning to cope with the likely inability to rotate. In response, Emery admitted it’s a tricky situation as he said: “Yes, Axel (Disasi) can’t play on Saturday. We will see as firstly we have Lamare Bogarde and we needed him always when performing well with us, today he played 10 minutes.

“Konsa is close to coming back, Cash played 20 or 30 minutes. Of course, we have some injured players being not available for Saturday but maybe some can come back. But we have enough players in the squad to compete, to play and to prepare against Chelsea on Saturday.”

Forgotten Villa star nears return

One absent player who has been overlooked in the past few weeks is Ross Barkley, with Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara the bigger misses. The former Everton and Chelsea midfielder was due back at the start of February but he’s not featured in a matchday squad since the 2-1 FA Cup win over West Ham United on January 10.

Emery hasn’t mentioned Barkley in any of his recent team news round-ups, so BirminghamWorld asked for an update. “Ross is going slower than we planned because he’s feeling some pain,” Emery revealed.

“But, he was this week more or less at the beginning thinking to be available for this match (against Liverpool) but in the end he was not. Maybe on Saturday or next week he will again be with us,” he added.

With just three days between the Liverpool draw and the clash with Chelsea, it’s a race against time for those nearing returns.

In other news, three ‘excellent’ players scored eight out of 10 but one was dealt a five in our ratings from Villa 2-2 Liverpool.