Aston Villa boss Unai Emery confirms potential first team injury blow ahead of Sunderland clash

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed that defender Victor Lindelof has sustained a “small injury” ahead of his side’s clash with Sunderland this weekend.

The Black Cats play host the Villans at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon, and will be looking to build on an impressive start to the campaign from which they have taken seven points across their first four Premier League outings.

For their part, Villa have struggled to find their rhythm this term, and are currently 19th in the table, with no wins and two draws to their name. To compound matters further, they are yet to score a goal in the league, and while they did find the back of the net in a 1-1 draw against Brentford in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening, they were subsequently dumped out of the competition on penalties.

What is the latest Aston Villa injury news?

In a further blow, Villa were also without Swedish centre-back Victor Lindelof in West London. The summer signing, who has played just seven minutes of Premier League football for his new club thus far, was omitted from Emery’s matchday squad, and in a press conference after the final whistle, the Spaniard confirmed that his absence was fitness-related.

As reported by The Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell, Emery stated that Lindelof had suffered a “small injury”. At this stage, it is unclear as to whether the complaint is serious enough to rule the 31-year-old out of Sunday’s clash on Wearside as well.

Elsewhere, Emery provided an update on midfielder Youri Tielemans, who sustained an ankle problem in last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Everton. The Villa boss has since suggested, however, that the injury is not as bad as first feared - although it remains to be seen whether his player his available against Sunderland. He said: “It is better than we expected. Maybe in one or two weeks he will be available”.

Villa were also boosted by Boubacar Kamara’s return on Tuesday night. The defensive midfielder featured from the bench against Brentford after missing the previous two matches with a hamstring issue. Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley are also believed to be closing in on returns of their own. Onana, just like Kamara, suffered a hamstring injury priot to the international break, while Barkley has been lacking match fitness after dealing with a personal issue.

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What is the current injury status of Sunderland’s squad?

Speaking in a press conference last week, Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris delivered a wide-ranging update on the fitness status of several members of his squad, revealing that he expects centre-back Dan Ballard to be back in contention for Sunday’s meeting with Villa. He said: “Dan should be back for Aston Villa.

“It's a bit longer than expected for the others. For Dennis [Cirkin], we have to wait a bit. He didn't heal completely after his wrist injury and he had an issue with his knee as well. So he needs to rest a bit. Luke [O’Nien] should be ready around Aston Villa. Leo [Hjelde] struggled with his achilles, so it's a bit longer than expected as well. He had the surgery for both achilles, he worked hard last season to be connected with the squad, even if it was painful.

“But now, it's like Dennis, he has to rest completely to be able to connect with the squad later. Aji [Alese] is close to coming back but after a long period without playing, it's still tough to reconnect with the level. So we'll have to wait a bit.”

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