Unai Emery explains mysterious absence of Aston Villa player in Chelsea win

Unai Emery has confirmed the mysterious absence of Alex Moreno from Aston Villa’s 1-0 win at Chelsea was down to an injury setback.

Moreno, who was in the matchday squad at Legia Warsaw midweek after a lengthy lay-off with a hamstring injury, wasn’t present at Stamford Bridge.

Villa have already had to make do without the Spaniard for a while as he hasn’t played at all this season. Now they’ll have to wait even longer.

“Alex Moreno, his injury was really hard and he’s been better and better but he’s not feeling one hundred per cent comfortable to play,” Emery said at Stamford Bridge.

“We decided to stop for some days, maybe one week, maybe two weeks, to work strongly with him in the process to get him ready to play.

“Hopefully, he’s being close again to being in the squad,” Emery explained.

Thankfully for the Villans, experienced full-back Lucas Digne has been doing an outstanding job to fill the void of Moreno.

It was thought the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain star’s time at Villa Park might be over in the summer but his form has regained Emery’s confidence.

Digne has one goal and five assists to his name in just eight matches this season. Even if Moreno was fit, he’d probably have a hard job taking his spot back.