News about Aston Villa from BirminghamLive: Despite his team’s numerous injury concerns, Unai Emery is still doing an incredible job.
After Ezri Konsa’s most recent setback, Unai Emery maintains that Aston Villa’s awful injury luck this season is “not an excuse”.
The center back hurt his knee during the 5-0 victory over Sheffield United last Saturday, and he will be out for at least three weeks. The setback occurs just as Pau Torres is recovering from an ankle ailment he initially sustained in mid-December.
Torres will start on the bench for Wednesday night’s FA Cup fourth round rematch against Chelsea at Villa Park, despite having already exacerbated the injury twice. A hamstring ailment has kept Lucas Digne out of commission since Boxing Day, while Jhon Duran will be out for at least four more weeks due to a related injury.
Diego Carlos dealt with a hamstring issue at the start of the season and missed a handful of games, while Youri Tielemans missed six matches after picking up a calf problem in December. Emi Buendia and Tyrone Mings both sustained long-term knee injuries at the start of the campaign and are both unlikely to feature this season.
Weeks after Buendia and Mings began their rehabilitation, Jacob Ramsey and Alex Moreno each suffered setbacks in their respective recoveries from injuries too. Moreno only returned to full fitness back in late November, while Ramsey picked up a hamstring issue in January just after he had recovered from his second foot injury.
Midfielder Tim Iroegbunam was unavailable for almost the entirety of pre-season and returned to training at Bodymoor Heath in October. Bertrand Traore was also carrying injuries in the first half of the season before the club mutually agreed to terminate his contract.
It’s hard to comprehend how many injuries Emery has had to put up with so far this season, yet his side’s challenge for Champions League football is still intact. Currently, Villa sit fourth with 15 Premier League games left to play this term.
Villa are also two home ties away from an FA Cup quarter final and have already booked their place in the Europa Conference League last 16. Considering the challenges he has been made to deal with, it makes the job Emery has performed even more remarkable.
“They were not part of our plan but they are coming,” Emery said about the injuries his squad has suffered. “The toughest are when it is a long time, like Tyrone and Emiliano. But during the competition they are coming.
“Sometimes one month is not a lot but it depends. For example now we are about Ez Konsa for a month. It will be a lot because he is playing every match, consistent and is playing very well.
“His performances for the team have been fantastic because he is playing two different positions, two different roles in the squad. But of course, I accept each injury because it is something we have to adapt.”
“We were performing to a really high degree of success. We could do better if we had every player, but that is not the case 100% of the time.
“Now we are going to try and adapt with a new injury but we are also adding Pau Torres and Lucas Digne who were very important early in the season.”
