Aston Villa journalist Ashley Preece has dropped an injury update and an early team news hint ahead of the Villans’ Premier League match against Leicester City.
Following the recent closing of the latest January transfer window, Unai Emery’s side are back in action on the pitch this weekend as they take on Leicester in front of their home fans on Saturday.
Looking ahead to this showdown against the Foxes, who are currently 10 points behind Villa in the league table, some behind-the-scenes details have emerged regarding the fitness and availability of some of Villa’s players.
In a recent Twitter post, Preece had this to say on the current situation heading into Saturday’s clash.
He said: “John McGinn and Lucas Digne back in full training at #avfc. Jhon Duran in contention to make his Villa Park debut this weekend. Bertrand Traore still a week or two away from his return.”
With McGinn (14) and Digne (13) starting the majority of Villa’s Premier League games this season, this shows how important they are to the team and why potentially having them available again for the weekend will be a big positive for Emery.
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In terms of what these two players offer the side, McGinn has the third-highest average of tackles per game (2.2) at Villa and Digne has the joint-third-highest average of key passes (0.9) per game.
Then with Duran, having joined the club during the recent January window, it could be exciting for the Villa fans to see him in action, especially since he has arrived at the club with eight goals and six assists to his name from 28 appearances for his previous club Chicago Fire.
Looking ahead to the upcoming match, it’ll be interesting to see what starting XI Emery goes for in terms of his team selection and whether or not the players that Preece mentioned in his post will be involved.