Aston Villa Injury Updates

Aston Villa typically play things pretty close to the vest when it comes to discussing injuries to their players, but of course us supporters are hungry for answers as to when players will take to the pitch again.

This season has not been a kind one to Aston Villa in terms of player injuries. We’ve seen long term absences for Orjan Nyland, Jack Grealish, James Chester, Axel Tuanzebe, Henri Lansbury, Tommy Elphick, Alan Hutton, Birkir Bjarnason, and André Green (while on loan). Mile Jedinak, Lovre Kalanic, and Tom Carroll have all endured injury spells as well. That’s a boatload considering all players mentioned here (with the exception of Lansbury and Carroll) have seen plenty of first team minutes this campaign.

Some of these players are now fit or have already been deemed out for the remainder of the season, so were going to focus today on the injuries to the centre-backs, and when we can expect (and predict) them to return.

Axel Tuanzebe

Of the three centre-backs  currently out with injury, Tuanzebe is the close to a return, and would arguably provide Aston Villa with the biggest boost. He could cover at RB in a pinch, as well as his feature in his more natural CB position. It is believed that he will be available for the fixture at Villa Park against Blackburn, March 30th. From the sounds of it, he’s ready:

This is an easy prediction to make. If 100% healthy, Axel will absolutely be on the bench for the Blackburn match. It would be very difficult to suggest that he slot immediately back into the XI given how formidably Kortney Hause and Tyrone Mings have been over the past four matches. It will be interesting to see if Dean Smith sends Hause back to the LB position once more healthy CB options are available.

James Chester

During the press conference before the match against Middlesborough, Dean Smith noted that Chester had completed his series of knee injections, and would be back to light training during the international break. This would be more fantastic news, as Chester is (what I would argue) among the team’s top-2 centre-backs, and should probably feature as soon as he’s available. (Would it be too Pulis-esque to suggest a Tuanzebe, Chester, Mings, Hause back line?) I digress. If Chester is in training, he would presumably be targeting a return in mid-April. There are 6 matches in April, including a run of 4 in 12 days right in the middle of the month. It would be nice to have a full-stable of CB’s available for grinding through that tough time. I predict that Chester will be back for the April 13th match at home against Bristol City, and should at least see a place on the bench.

Tommy Elphick

Praise modern medicine, because after tearing a ligament in his foot Tommy Elphick’s predicted recovery time was only 6-weeks. That’s incredible, considering the injury happened to the literal part of the body that the sport is named for. With Chester and Tuanzebe coming back, there is no reason for Elphick to rush in his rehab. There is no concrete news yet as to the actual timetable for his return, other than that he might be back before the end of the season. I think this is a case where they will keep him kind of “on call” should something happen to Chester/Tuanzebe during the last 8, (possibly 11) fixtures.

This is all news that is trending upward for a back-line that has been plagued with injuries this season. When all these players are healthy, Dean Smith will have some more decisions to make regarding the Starting XI and bench. Who would you play? Leave a comment below or tweet @ClaretVillans and @NassClay. UTV