As Aston Villa look to maintain their battle for a place in the Premier League's top four, Unai Emery will have to do so without a number of injured players in what is likely to be a tough end to the season.
Aston Villa injury news
The Midlands club have started to struggle in the last couple of weeks, with a 4-0 defeat at home against Tottenham Hotspur before a 1-1 draw against West Ham United leaving them three points clear of the North London club, who have a game in hand.
Sandwiched in between two frustrating results was at least a 4-0 thumping of Ajax in the Europa Conference League, as Villa progressed into the last eight.
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With fixtures piling up, the last thing Villa need is any more bad injury news. As things stand, they are without as many as four players with just one of those on course to return before the end of the current campaign.
Boubacar Kamara
26/10/2024
Emiliano Buendia
24/06/2024
Tyrone Mings
24.06/2024
Jacob Ramsey
30/03/2024
The most important player on that list is arguably Tyrone Mings, who recently posted an update on his recovery to social media in which you can see the muscular atrophy – a large decrease in muscle due to a loss of nerve supply – in his injured leg.
Reacting to the images, Dr Rajpal Brar told Villa News: “This is unfortunate for Mings but among the potential realities following ACL injuries. As one can see, there is significant muscle atrophy as he continues his rehab en route to returning to full fitness.
“I think he’s likely out for the season, especially when you look at the side-to-side differences. We also don’t know the full extent of Mings’ injury if it was just an ACL or were other things involved.”
"Fantastic" Mings will be eyeing pre-season return
Although Dr Brar aired concerns that we don't know the full extent of Mings' injury, there's no doubt that the England defender will be eyeing a return in this summer's pre-season at Aston Villa. After missing the entirety of what's been an incredible campaign at Villa Park, Mings will be desperate to make his return to a side who are on course to be competing in the Champions League next season.
With the pressure mounting after defeat against Spurs and a draw at West Ham, it's times like this when Mings would really earn his reported £100k per-week salary. Instead, however, he must play his role away from the pitch in the hope of making some kind of impact in the dressing room, as he awaits his eventual return.
Former manager Steven Gerrard certainly knows all about the quality that Villa are currently missing without Mings, having previously praised the defender. The Liverpool legend told the Independent: “We think Tyrone Mings is a fantastic footballer with big attributes and he’s going to be a big help to me and the team moving forward."