Boost for Emery: “Fantastic” Aston Villa star “close” to return from injury

A “fantastic” Aston Villa player is now “close” to returning from an injury setback, in what could be a boost for manager Unai Emery.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s fixture against Liverpool in the Premier League, Emery has admitted he doesn’t know the reason behind Villa’s injury problems this season, having been forced to substitute a player in the first half of each of his side’s last five matches.

Emery said: “It’s difficult to know exactly the reason for the injured players. Normally, a lot of teams have a lot of injuries. Maybe some teams do not, like tomorrow in Liverpool.

“We are playing a lot of matches, which adds more risk to players. Kamara was ready to play (against Ipswich) but had some problems in his back.
“But the injury is not coming from his back, it is in his hamstrings. We are meeting with doctors, physios to see how we can get better at anticipating the circumstances like we had. But exactly why is difficult to have this information.”
A number of key players have been sidelined in recent weeks, with Matty Cash, Pau Torres, Amadou Onana, Ross Barkley, Leon Bailey and Ezri Konsa all spending time on the treatment table.
However, Emery has now revealed Bailey is “close” to overcoming a calf injury and being available for selection, with the manager hinting he could be involved tonight against Liverpool.

The winger is said to be a “doubt”, alongside Cash and Konsa, who also returned to training yesterday morning, but the manager was coy on whether the trio would have any involvement against the league leaders.
The Jamaica international was a vital player for Villa last season, being lauded as “fantastic” by Emery, while also amassing ten goals and nine assists in the Premier League en-route to his side achieving qualification for the Champions League.

This season, the 27-year-old hasn’t quite had the same impact, but he had started to show some more promising signs prior to his recent injury setback, scoring in the 2-1 victory against Leicester City and creating two big chances against Celtic.

After just one win in their last five Premier League games, it could be a difficult task for the Villans to qualify for Europe once again, and there are some tricky games on the horizon.