Aston Villa journalist Ashley Preece has shared the latest injury update concerning Villa captain Jack Grealish ahead of the Birmingham club’s Premier League showdown against Tottenham Hotspur.
This comes after Preece made an appearance on a recent episode of the Birmingham Mail’s Claret & Blue Podcast where he spoke about a number of topics concerning Dean Smith’s side including Sunday’s clash against Jose Mourinho’s side.
On the subject of Grealish, who has been out of action with an injury since last month, Preece had this to say on the matter and whether or not the Englishman would be fit enough to face Tottenham. (5.09)
He said: “If it’s Jack’s decision, Jack plays every day of the week.
“My gut’s probably telling me no, we’re not going to see him [against Spurs]. I think Villa are going to rest him, make sure he’s back at tip-top shape for Fulham the week after [with] 10 games left and go at it full throttle.
“I don’t know, we’ll soon see Sunday. Dean Smith’s going to leave it to the last minute, Sunday morning perhaps and we’ll see if he trains [on Saturday] as well.
“Villa have a call to make regarding that. My gut feeling is saying we probably won’t see him until Fulham, to be honest.”
As a product of Villa’s youth academy, Grealish made his senior debut for the Birmingham club in 2014 under former Villa boss Paul Lambert.
Since then, the 25-year-old, who is currently valued at £54 million, has made 209 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring 32 goals and providing 43 assists along the way (per Transfermarkt).
Do you think Villa should risk playing Grealish against Spurs?
Yes, if he's okay
No, no worth the risk
TIF Thoughts on Ashley Preece’s comments on Grealish…
Given how Villa have only managed to win one out of the five previous league fixtures that Grealish has missed through injury, scoring just three goals in the process, this suggests that they could do with him back in the team as soon as possible taking into account he has scored six goals and provided 12 assists in the league prior to his injury (per Transfermarkt).
In our view, if the medical staff at Villa say Grealish is fit enough to play against Spurs, then Smith should get in him the team so he can help boost their attacking power.