Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has confirmed that he is set to welcome back both Henri Lansbury and Neil Taylor back to the first team squad this week after their respective injury layoffs.
The Villans have been suffering with a number of layoffs over the festive period, with the likes of Jack Grealish and Axel Tuanzebe missing for Smith’s men as they looked to end 2018 by closing in on the top six of the Championship.
Lansbury has been plagued with problems this season, making just one league appearance this season, while Taylor had been a mainstay for the Villans, turning out 14 times in the second tier and their likely return, with the FA Cup clash against Swansea on Saturday pencilled in as a return date, will be an important boon for Smith.
He told the Birmingham Mail: “I think the game being a few days away will come too soon for Henri and Neil Taylor but they could be back for Swansea.”
Opinion
Villa’s defence has been chopped and changed time and time again this season and Smith will be tearing his hair out at the amount of injuries that he has been forced to endure. However, with Taylor on his way back that is one less headache that he has to deal with, while he will finally get a chance to see what Lansbury has to offer the side after just eight minutes of Championship action this season. The FA Cup could well prove to be the perfect opportunity for Smith to rest a couple of his senior stars, many of which will be exhausted by the intense demands of the festive fixtures, and as such having the likes of Taylor and Lansbury available to bring in will only help with rotation. Still, how Villa fans would love to see their side go on a cup run this season and so Smith best not write off their chances of success over Swansea with a much weakened side. A cup thumping at the hands of the Swans would only go to demoralise the squad and the supporters.