Aston Villa and Sweden left-back Ludwig Augustinsson could be facing around 2-3 weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
That is according to injury expert Ben Dinnery, who was speaking on Monday’s FPL Injuries update on YouTube following this weekend’s Premier League fixtures.
Augustinsson had to be taken off just before half-time in Sunday’s fixture at Elland Road, being replaced by Southampton loanee Jan Bednarek.
Steven Gerrard has already had to deal with multiple injury issues at full-back this season, with Matty Cash and Lucas Digne sidelined with hamstring and ankle injuries respectively.
And Dinnery suggests that the side’s injury problems may well increase, with a potential lay-off ahead for Augustinsson.
He said: “Ludwig Augustinsson, he limped off on the half-time mark with an apparent hamstring problem.
“Again, Steven Gerrard fears that is going to be the worst [outcome] with that one.
“With any kind of hamstring injury, even if it’s minor, we’re still looking at least two to possibly three weeks on the sidelines.”
TIF Thoughts on Dinnery’s comments…
We believe that Villa fans will be extremely concerned at Augustinsson’s potential injury, with the 28-year-old’s absence likely to mean that the club are going to have to rearrange their defence considerably, given that Lucas Digne also remains out.
However, Gerrard will be thankful that Digne is predicted to be back available for selection within 2-3 weeks himself, whilst Cash should be back imminently, meaning that he will not be without his first-choice full-back options for too long.
Therefore, we believe that whilst Augustinsson’s injury will come as a frustration to Gerrard and the Villa faithful, we believe the squad will be able to ride out these short-term injury concerns.