Aston Villa will be without Matty Cash for Saturday’s trip to Chelsea but look set to be boosted by the returns of Boubacar Kamara and Leander Dendoncker.
Right-back Cash sustained a calf injury while on international duty with Poland and will sit out for the next few weeks.
Kamara has missed the last two matches having hobbled out of Villa’s 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace, while fellow midfielder Dendoncker has also been unavailable for the past month – but Unai Emery is hopeful of both being ready for this weekend.
Philippe Coutinho, however, remains sidelined and will miss out at Stamford Bridge.
Head coach Emery provided a fitness update at Thursday’s pre-match media conference.
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“Cash is injured and he is going to be out for a couple of weeks, maybe more, hopefully less than three weeks,” said the Spaniard.
“But more or less, this injury, going normally for the player, is three weeks.
“Still injured is Coutinho, he’s progressing but is not yet ready to train with us.
“Kamara, this week, was training with us. If tomorrow he is ready, he is training normal, I think we can use him in the squad for the match on Saturday.
“Dendoncker as well has trained with us for the last two weeks normally, he is ready to play.
“The last players arrived today after their matches with their national teams.
“Hopefully tomorrow we can train normally and be ready for Saturday.”
The Presser
