Unai Emery coy as fresh Aston Villa injury concern surfaces after AZ Alkmaar win

Unai Emery has confirmed Diego Carlos suffered a minor injury in Aston Villa's 2-1 comeback victory over AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night. The Brazilian, who scored his first goal for the club to draw the game level, hobbled off late on and was replaced by fellow central defender Pau Torres.

Carlos played brilliantly on the night, holding the line superbly and putting in a number of last-ditch tackles to halt Alkmaar on the counter-attack. The 30-year-old also wasn't afraid to make his physical presence known up against AZ top scorer Evangelis Pavlidis and was unfortunate to go off late on.

"He was telling us about a small problem and we took him off," Emery admitted in the post-match press conference. "I don't have any more information about it. Maybe it's a small injury, I think it's not a lot but we have to check him," Emery continued.

One of just three men in claret and blue to score an eight out of 10 in the Birmingham World player ratings, Carlos will be hoping further tests will confirm it's just a knock. There's of course the potential it could be more severe than first thought but an international break comes at a good time in that respect.

Villa may have to return to their usual centre-back pairing of Ezri Konsa and Pau in their next fixture as it is merely three days away. Emery's side host Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday before a two week interval in action.