Aston Villa defender Pau Torres could return to action in two weeks’ time as Unai Emery looks forward to the end of his side’s defensive crisis

Unai Emery hopes Aston Villa’s defensive crisis will soon be over as Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres close in on respective returns from injury.

Konsa may be named in the squad to face Chelsea on Saturday after training at Bodymoor Heath on Friday, while Torres could return to full team training next week.
Tyrone Mings had missed three games against Celtic, Wolves and Tottenham while nursing a knee problem, which pushed Boubacar Kamara to centre-back.
But the Frenchman suffered a hamstring problem in the draw against Ipswich Town last weekend and is expected to be out for around three weeks.

Axel Disasi, who signed on loan from Chelsea for the remainder of the season, has impressed in his first two appearances, but is unavailable to feature against his parent club this weekend.
If Konsa is unable to start alongside Mings against the Blues, then Lamare Bogarde will likely play at right centre-back. It would be the 11th different centre-back pairing Emery has used this season.

“But we are watching and analysing other teams and more or less they have the same problem,” Emery explained in his pre-match press conference. “They are having a lot of injured players. The most important thing is we are not having injured players for a long time.

“OK, maybe two months is a long time but it is not a year like last season with Kamara, Mings and Buendia. Always I accept injured players and of course we are analysing why and how we can improve it.
“As a coach, I know it. I have to react, I have to be positive and work with the players, to be ready when we have injuries like now. For tomorrow we have enough players to be ready and compete, even with Lamare Bogarde in the starting XI I am positive because he is performing well.

“Bogarde, his performances have helped us and he’s been fantastic. When we needed him he was always ready to help and performing and competing.

“But of course, we have to try to use our experienced players to get stronger. We didn’t have this opportunity for consistency at different moments in the season, starting with Diego Carlos, then Tyrone Mings was coming back late after his injury.