Aston Villa was handed a new injury concern on top of several others already heading into this weekend's Premier League clash with Everton following England's UEFA Nations League victory over Finland last night.
Centre-half Ezri Konsa started at centre-half and produced a commanding display in defence to keep out the Finland attack which included former Norwich City forward Teemu Pukki. However, Konsa's evening was cut short when he limped off the pitch with an injury on the hour mark.
Aston Villa already has several injury concerns ahead of the match with the Toffees. Leon Bailey is a major doubt for the match after suffering a hamstring injury in the win against Leicester City which forced his withdrawal from the Jamaica squad. Ollie Watkins was sent back to Bodymoor Heath by the England medical staff to assess an 'ongoing issue' and is therefore also a doubt for Saturday's game. Matty Cash will miss the game due to the thigh injury picked up against whilst Diego Carlos will also be missing the action.
Konsa's situation
Konsa sustained the injury to his left leg in the act of winning back possession and setting England on their way up the pitch, in typical Ezri Konsa fashion. Konsa remained on the ground for several minutes whilst being assessed by the England physios and Villa fans watched on with worry. However, despite the situation not looking too promising, Konsa rose to his feet and continued to play. After a few minutes though, he and Lee Carsley decided it was right to call time on his evening and so he trudged off the field a few moments later.
Ezri Konsa had to come off after an injury in the second half. Looks to have happened in this play, after contact to his left leg.
— Physio Scout | Football Injury Analysis (@physioscout) September 10, 2024
Injury looks fairly minor, and was seen clutching his shin bone. Konsa was signalling that it was a contact injury too, gesturing like a clash of… pic.twitter.com/TzDCvBQqHr
According to Physio Scout, on X, the injury is a minor one and the recovery time is deemed to be less than a week. Therefore, despite the concern it is likely Konsa would miss just one game maximum and definitely has a chance of recovering in time to face Everton on Saturday. England interim-manager Lee Carsley also helped to relax the worries of Villa fans by saying:
""Yes, I think he is (okay), yeah. I have not had the chance yet to see him because I have been in the press, but he looked okay when I saw him.”"
It would be a major boost for Villa should he prove to be fit enough to play as he is one of the best centre-backs in the league. In the 2023/24 season, Ezri Konsa had the best ground duel success rate of any player to contest at least 20 ground duels across Europe's top seven leagues in 2023/24 (78% success rate). Konsa is a hugely important player in the Villa side and should he miss out through injury, a very inexperienced Lamare Bogarde would likely have to take his place. Tyrone Mings is back in full training but will not be ready to play for at least another few weeks.
Since the beginning of the 2019/20 season, Ezri Konsa's debut season in claret and blue, the 26-year-old has missed just eight games through injury and has been an ever-present since signing from Brentford in July 2019. Konsa has 191 games to his name across all competitions for Villa and fans will be hoping that it'll be game number 192 this weekend.
UTV