Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has lifted the lid on the myriad of injury problems his side are currently dealing with.
John McGinn, Birkir Bjarnason, Mile Jedinak, Alberto Adomah and James Bree are all currency sidelined, while midfielder Henri Lansbury had to come off injured mere minutes after coming on in the team’s 4-2 win over Birmingham City on Sunday.
Smith has provided a crucial update: “I’m hopeful that John will be back for Wednesday but I don’t know yet,” he told the Birmingham Mail. “He’s got a little bit of William Wallace (Braveheart) about him and wanted to play today but I couldn’t risk losing him and him being out for another couple of games.
“As for Lansbury he got brought down and felt his hamstring. He went to recover but couldn’t continue. I’m hopeful that it isn’t too bad and we got him off quickly enough to avoid any further damage. He’s very unfortunate that it’s happened. We’ve got couple of injuries – James Bree and Mile Jedinak have also got strains.”
OPINION
Villa are certainly dealing with their fair share of injuries at the moment, aren’t they? They really could have done without getting another two casualties against Birmingham on Sunday but unfortunately Adomah and Lansbury both succumbed at Villa Park. However, there is some good news sprinkled in amidst Smith’s comments, here. McGinn will potentially be available to play against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday which is a huge boost for the club. Forest will be very tough opposition and so it would be massive to have a vital player like McGinn back for that game. Smith is also hopeful that Lansbury’s injury wasn’t too bad so hopefully he’ll be back before long – although Wednesday’s game will presumably come too early for him to feature. It’s a shame that Adomah suffered his setback because he was playing extremely well on Sunday. Luckily for Villa they have a top class player in Yannick Bolasie ready to fill the breach.